


got you under my skin

by sapphirerays



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: 'haha these feelings i'm feeling must be what friendship is right', (but they don't know that), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canonical Character Death, Childhood Nicknames, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Nicknames, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining, Rivals to Lovers, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, [narrator voice] but they were not, and a lot of feelings to sort through, au where at eighteen you get the nickname your soulmate first gives you on your wrist, language warning, lone wanderer has a lot on her plate, tags to be added as I update
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:14:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23767519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphirerays/pseuds/sapphirerays
Summary: After being kicked out of the vault at nineteen, the lone wanderer travels to Megaton, where she first hears about soulmates and their marks. Imagine her surprise when she finds out her mark reveals Butch DeLoria as her soulmate.(Currently being updated semi-regularly due to university!)
Relationships: Butch DeLoria/Female Lone Wanderer, Butch DeLoria/Lone Wanderer, Past Amata Almodovar/Female Lone Wanderer
Comments: 52
Kudos: 109





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first ever attempt at a multichapter work so please bear with me! i'm hoping to update semi-regularly but we'll see how it goes

Katherine was _exhausted_. It felt like days had passed since she’d left the vault, but it had been a manner of hours. It made sense, in a way - it was a lot to take in at once. Her dad was gone, Jonas was dead, the overseer had tried to have her killed, she’d left the vault, she’d found out she wasn’t even born in the vault to begin with.

She needed a drink.

She was lucky enough that she’d had some caps scrounged up - she’d barely had time to grab some of her belongings before she left. Not that the caps would last her very long in the wasteland, if she took into account needing a place to stay and kitting herself out. At the least she had a jacket now, gifted to her by the leader of the tunnel snakes himself. She scoffed and made a mental note to speak to the town’s sheriff for an idea of work to do. She’d spotted a few leaks along the pipeline when she’d entered the town and she had a fair amount of repair knowledge from Jonas over the years.

Jonas. Her heart ached. Poor, poor Jonas. Her dad would be devastated when he found out. That’s assuming she could even find him to begin with.

 _Stop,_ she chided herself. _You’re just going to overthink things. Take things one step at a time._

First things first. She’d rented a room in Moriarty’s saloon, as much as she hadn’t wanted to. She needed information on her dad, and Moriarty didn’t seem to want to give up anything easily. She couldn’t afford to buy his information, which put her back at square one - needing money. In the meantime, she could squander what little money she _did_ have on some alcohol. She sat up from where she’d been lying on her borrowed bed, thinking. The place wasn’t exactly secure. After a moment of consideration she hid her things under the bed, locking the room behind her, and headed back down to the bar.

The bartender - Gob, if she was right, she was pretty sure she’d heard Moriarty say his name - was muttering about the radio being on the fritz.

“Hey,” she said. Truth be told, she wasn’t sure if she’d even get served. It had been pretty clear in the vault that you could drink when you were twenty-one and not a day younger. There’d been one instance where she, Amata and a couple of the others in the vault had stolen some vodka and gotten tipsy, and her dad had found them in a giggling mess in her room. He’d been furious, but had covered for them afterwards, which she’d always been grateful for. She shook her head to clear her thoughts of her father, to find Gob looking at her in surprise.

“You’re… not going to shoot?”

“Why would I shoot you?” she furrowed her brow.

“Well… I assumed you hadn’t seen a ghoul before, being from a vault and all.”

“I haven’t. That doesn’t mean I’d just shoot you.”

“Huh. Makes you different from most, then,” he grunted, rubbing down a glass with a dirty cloth. She couldn’t tell if the cloth was actually helping to clean the glass. “Well, can I get you anything?”

“A bottle of whiskey, please?” she asked, holding out some caps.

“Sure thing, smooth-skin,” he lowered his voice and added, “I’ll get you one of the cleaner bottles. You know, for not treating me like shit.”

“Oh, uh, thank you.” She sat back in her seat. “Sorry, smooth-skin?”

“It’s our term for people like you. Those who aren’t ghouls.” Gob set a bottle of whiskey in front of her and she passed the caps over to him.

“Oh, okay. Thanks.” Katherine gratefully took a swig from it. It burned her throat, but it was better than the vodka she’d had previously, and she didn’t entirely hate it. “Hey, uh, Gob, was it? Could I get some advice?”

“Make it quick. Moriarty’ll have my head if he thinks I’m standing around chatting.”

“If I’m gonna hang around here, I’ll need gear, and more caps. Any idea on how to get either of those?”

“Hmm.” Gob glanced around and leaned towards her. “You’ll want Moira for gear, up in Craterside Supply. She might even have some work for you, being as you’re a newcomer. Your best bet is to talk to Simms for work though. No doubt he’ll find something.”

“Thanks, Gob.” Katherine downed the rest of her whiskey and stood up to leave. Before she opened the door, however, she heard someone speak.

“Looking for work, kid?”

She turned to see a man in the corner she’d missed when she’d first walked in. He looked a shady type, in a surprisingly clean suit and hat.

“Name’s Burke,” he went on. “I’ve got a job for you, if you’re interested. Pays well too.”

“What’s the job?” she asked cautiously.

“You see that bomb in the middle of the town? Big thing, hard to miss.”

“Yeah, I saw it. What about it?”

“Did you know it hasn’t been deactivated? Could go off at any second. I’ve got an interested party who’d like to speed it up,” he said.

“You… want me to set off the bomb?” Katherine looked at him incredulously.

“That’s right.”

“But that would destroy the town.”

“Correct. 500 caps, take it or leave it.”

“I… Uh, I’ll have to think about it,” she said uneasily.

“Suit yourself. I’ll be here, waiting for your answer.” He sat back in his chair. Katherine slowly backed up before exiting through the door. _I should warn the sheriff,_ she thought, _in case someone else takes up the offer._ It wouldn’t be hard to find him - he seemed to have stationed himself at the entrance to Megaton. First, though, she’d get some better gear from Moira, just in case - one little BB gun wasn’t going to help her much.

She found Craterside Supply easily enough and entered it cautiously. Inside, the atmosphere was… interesting, to say the least. There was a lot of junk laying around, and there seemed to be a guard stationed by one of the doors. To the right was a counter with a redheaded woman stood behind it, who seemingly hadn’t noticed her.

“Er… Hello?”

“Oh!” the redhead woman whipped around. “A newcomer! Well, welcome, I’m Moira! You can call me… well, anything you like! You could give me a nickname right now if you like!”

“Oh, uh, that’s okay, I just-”

“Go ahead, don’t be shy!” Moira beamed up at her, looking expectant. Katherine shuffled on the spot.

“Well, I just needed some equipment… I don’t really use nicknames much.”

“But if you _had_ to give me a nickname?” Moira prompted.

“Um… Red?” Katherine tried. Moira’s face fell, before she promptly brightened back up.

“Oh well, worth a shot. What do you need?”

“I just need to upgrade my gun. I don’t have a load of caps, though, so anything better than a BB gun will do me for now.”

“No problem!” Moira opened a cabinet, showing it full of various guns. _How is she so cheery?_ Katherine wondered.

“How about this assault rifle? I can give it to you half price if you’d be generous enough to help me out with a little project I have.” Moira heaved one of the guns out. “Say 150 caps? I’d pay you for your help too, of course.”

“What kind of project?”

“Oh, just some research for a book I’m writing.”

“Sure, sounds good to me.”

“Brilliant!” Moira said excitedly, and for a second Katherine wondered if maybe she’d been too hasty in accepting the offer. She handed over the caps to Moira and listened as she immediately launched into a spiel of information. She was talking _very_ fast, so it was difficult to make out everything she was saying, but she managed to note down enough details in her pipboy for her to be able to make sense of it later. After a quick thank you, she left with her new gun to find the sheriff. She briefly wondered what the deal was with Moira demanding a nickname, but quickly put it out of her head to focus on the bomb threat.

She found Lucas Simms outside his house, about to enter.

“Wait, sheriff! I need to speak to you,” she puffed. She was a little out of breath from trailing all around Megaton.

“Yes? What is it?” He turned to look at her, one hand on his door handle.

“Someone in the saloon tried to get me to set off the bomb. I thought you should know - he’s offering a lot of caps.”

“Burke,” Simms frowned. He sighed. “Better go deal with that.”

“I’ll come with you, just in case.”

“Well, okay. Follow behind me.”

The two of them headed back towards the saloon. Simms walked straight up to Burke and confronted him, while Katherine hovered in the background. She couldn’t make out much of their conversation - she was stood too far back - but when Simms turned around she saw Burke poke a weapon out.

“Look out!” she shouted, and instinctively fired a shot. It hit Burke in the arm, a poor shot considering she’d been aiming for his shoulder, but it gave Simms enough time to turn around and fire a shot into his head. Burke slumped to the floor, blood pooling around him.

“Thanks, kid.” Simms wiped his forehead. “Didn’t expect him to try and take a shot, I’ll be honest. You might’ve just saved my life.”

“Just glad I was here,” she said, truthfully.

“Keep acting like that and maybe you’ll make a name for yourself here.” He gave her a smile. The word ‘name’ suddenly brought back Moira’s odd behaviour.

“Wait, I actually meant to ask something. What’s Moira’s deal with nicknames?”

“Oh, that. Well, she’s trying to figure out who her soulmate is,” Simms said nonchalantly. When Katherine looked at him blankly, he continued, “You know, she’s waiting for someone to call her by the nickname on her wrist.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” Katherine said. “What nickname thing?”

“Huh. I suppose it might not be a custom in vaults, what with those fancy things on your arm. It’s pretty well-known out here in the wastes. When a kid turns eighteen, they get a word on their wrist. Turns out the word is the first nickname they get called by their soulmate. Lots of folks think it’s bullshit, but a surprising amount of people stick to it. Look, here’s mine.” Simms pulled back his sleeve, revealing the word _cowboy_ on his wrist. “A little inside joke I had with my wife, ‘cause of the hat. The name stuck, and that’s when I knew we were meant to be. Course, she’s long gone now, but there’s no doubt in my mind that she was the one for me.”

“I’m sorry,” Katherine said, but Simms shushed her.

“No need to be sorry. Was a long time ago now. Besides, I was just explaining the custom to you. Your word is probably under that doohickey of yours. How old are you? Twenty?”

“Nineteen. I’ve never heard of this soulmate thing, though - why wouldn’t they tell us in the vault?”

“I don’t know, kid. They probably had their reasons. Or maybe they didn’t. Why don’t you just go take a look for yourself? Give you something to look out for.” He gave her a nod before heading out of the door. Katherine stayed rooted to the spot, trying to take it all in. _Would I really have a word? Or maybe they didn’t tell us because we didn’t have words,_ she thought to herself. _No, that’s stupid. What would stop us having words? It’s more likely the overseer didn’t want people trying to leave to find their soulmates._ She suddenly had the overwhelming urge to check under her vault suit, but didn’t want to leave her pipboy exposed, so headed back up to the room she’d paid for earlier, unlocking it and entering. To her relief, all of her things were still under the bed.

She locked the door again and got to work on trying to remove her pipboy. It took her a couple of attempts before she eventually figured it out and loosened it before removing it altogether. Her wrist felt too light without it, but she supposed after ten years of having it she would.

Curiosity flowed through her. If she _did_ have a word, that meant that somebody out there, somewhere, was destined to be with her. She still wasn’t entirely sure of the ins and outs of it all, but it was still exciting stuff.

She closed her eyes, slowly sliding her sleeve up her arm. _On the count of three, I’ll look._

_One._

_Two._

_Three!_

Her eyes shot open and she looked down at her wrist, bristling with excitement, only for her mouth to drop open in shock. On her wrist was a single word, in big bold lettering:

Nosebleed.

She stared at it, speechless. There was only one person who’d ever referred to her by that name.

Butch DeLoria.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katherine tries to forget about the vault and settles in Megaton.

Katherine stared at the word for a good minute. It had to be a mistake. She’d expected- well, she’d expected a nickname from Amata, given their... It didn’t matter. Point was, she’d never have expected it to be a nickname from Butch. She yanked her sleeve back down, covering the word. It was almost as though she could feel the word now, burnt into her skin. She slipped her pipboy back on. She had more important matters to attend to than to dwell on people she’d never see again.

She winced at her own thought. She never _could_ go back to the vault. The realisation had finally sunk in. Jonas was dead. If she hadn’t seen his body, if she hadn’t seen the guards gun down Mary and Tom in front of her, she’d never have believed it. If Amata hadn’t woken her… she shivered, and felt a pang in her heart. _Amata_. She wished she was here now. Amata always knew the right thing to say.

She shook her head lightly. Hadn’t she just told herself not to dwell on things? She needed to focus on her new life. She needed caps to pay Colin for his information, and she needed a place to stay. Megaton needed someone to deal with the bomb, too. She thought for a moment. She had some knowledge with explosives - Paul had shown her once, before they’d stopped hanging out for good. She could speak to Simms about disarming the bomb, since she’d already helped get rid of Burke, and maybe even net herself some caps.

She was careful to lock her door again before heading out. Burke’s body was gone; Gob was cleaning the floor, muttering about the mess. She felt bad, but it couldn’t be helped.

She found Simms near The Brass Lantern, eyeing up the bomb. When he spotted her, he smiled.

“Katherine, wasn’t it? Find out if you’ve got words on your arm?” He shifted over to give her room to talk to him.

“Uh, no,” she lied, then quickly went on, “Nothing there. Anyway, I came to speak to you about the bomb.”

“What about it?” He furrowed his brow at her.

“I’ve got some experience in disarming bombs. I can disarm it.”

“You’re sure?”

“I wouldn’t suggest it if I wasn’t. Figured you’d rest easier with it being disarmed after that experience with Burke.” She waited.

“Hmm. Yeah, I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you a hundred caps if you disarm it.”

“A hundred?” Katherine repeated. Megaton was stingier than she’d thought. “For stopping the entire town being at risk?”

“Fine, five hundred caps, no more. I’m putting a lot of faith in you for this.” He looked her dead in the eyes. “Don’t let me down.”

“You can trust me,” she promised, holding out her hand to shake. He shook it uncertainly and huffed, turning towards The Brass Lantern. Now all she had to do was actually disarm the thing. It was bigger up close, and she didn’t particularly like how water had gathered at the base of it. Water in the wasteland was different to the water back in the vault - the Geiger counter on her pipboy went crazy when she’d first touched some. The preacher stood in the water didn’t help the matter. She checked her pipboy now, taking a step into the water. Sure enough, the counter went off. She scrolled through the notes, seeing if there was anything of aid, when her notes from Moira’s task caught her eye. Moira apparently wanted her to get irradiated in order to “study the effects”. Two birds, one stone she supposed, taking another step forward into the water and getting to work on the bomb.

* * *

A good while and a great amount of radiation poisoning later, the bomb posed no threat to Megaton. She felt _very_ sick. Simms had wandered off, so she decided to go back to Moira first, hoping she could fix the damage. She’d barely walked through the door when Moira squealed, clapping her hands excitedly.

“Oh, you’re positively glowing!” Moira beamed. Katherine gave her a strained smile.

“Please study it quickly,” she said through gritted teeth. “And fix it, if you can.”

“Of course, of course!” Moira tutted at her. Katherine closed her eyes, her head pounding. She didn’t know how much time passed, but finally Moira declared her study “finished”, and something stuck into her arm.

“Take it easy for a little bit, but otherwise you’re good as new!” Moira flashed her a smile.

“Thanks, I think.” Katherine rubbed her temples.

“Here’s your payment, of course.” Moira handed her a couple of packs of radaway and a handful of caps.

“Thanks,” she repeated. “I’ll let you know when I complete the rest of the tasks.”

“No worries!” Moira sounded chipper as always. Katherine was beginning to suspect that she was naturally that enthusiastic.

Taking her loot, she went back to find Simms once more. She felt as though she’d spent most of the day looking for him at this point - why couldn’t he just stay in one place? She was beginning to get sick of walking around the same areas of Megaton over and over, and her feet hurt.

Her stomach growled. Ah. That would explain her mood souring. She thought back to the last time she had eaten. She hadn’t had time to eat when escaping the vault, and then she’d been trying to get information out of Moriarty, then the whole incident with Burke, then the bomb, and finally dealing with Moira… she hadn’t eaten anything since the previous night, when she and Amata had put an old tape on and gone through snacks together. God, was that really less than twenty-four hours ago? It felt like a lifetime.

“Stop thinking about Amata!” she chided herself angrily. An odd look from a passing settler told her that she’d said it aloud. She sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose. Simms, caps, food, information. She counted out the number of caps Moira had given her. Maybe she could change up the order to food, Simms, caps, information - she was suddenly aware that she was ravenous. She turned around and headed back towards The Brass Lantern, sitting herself at one of their seats.

“How much for something to eat?” she asked the blonde woman behind the counter. She hadn’t been in Megaton long enough to learn people’s names.

“Depends what you’re after, sweetheart.” The woman gave her a smile. “You’re new around here, aren’t you? Name’s Jenny, Jenny Stahls. I run this place with my brothers.”

“I’m Katherine,” she responded. The name still felt on her tongue. Only that morning she had still been Therese. “I’m sorry, I haven’t got many caps. What can this get me?” She held out the handful of caps Moira had given her.

“Oh, you’re from that vault, right? I see the suit. Must be different around here, huh?” Jenny examined the number of caps in her hand. “How old are you, twenty? Twenty-one?”

“Nineteen,” Katherine said politely. Her stomach rumbled again, loudly, and she flushed red. “I’m sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve eaten.”

“No worries. Here, you’ve got enough for some cans of pork’n’beans, and some potato crisps.” Jenny bent over, pulling out a couple of cans for her, handing them over with a spoon.

“Thank you so much.” Her mouth watered just looking at them. She ripped the lid off one of the cans of beans and dug into it, barely stopping to chew for the first few mouthfuls. Remembering her manners, she swallowed hard, and went slower. Jenny laughed.

“No judgement here. We get hungry ones all the time,” she explained. “Say, weren’t you fiddling around with the bomb earlier? I think I saw you talking to the sheriff when he was around earlier.”

“Disharmtit,” Katherine said through a mouthful of beans. She flushed again, and swallowed. “Sorry. I mean, I disarmed it. It’s harmless now.”

“Well, thank you! You should tell Simms, he’ll likely reward you.”

“I would if I could find him,” she complained. “I swear I’ve spent most of the day looking for him.”

“He’ll likely be up in his house by now, with his son. Try the house near the entrance, just knock on the door, he should answer.”

“Thank you.” Katherine gave her a grateful smile. “You’ve been a big help.”

“Anytime, sweetheart. You be looking after yourself now.”

* * *

True enough, Simms turned out to be in his house, and looked disgruntled when he opened the door.

“Sorry if I interrupted anything.” Katherine took a quick glance over his shoulder. “I just thought you should know that the bomb is disarmed now. It’s not a threat anymore.” Simms looked at her in surprise.

“Well, I’ll be damned. I didn’t think you had it in you.” When he saw the look she gave him, he went on, “no offence, of course. Just didn’t think anyone was gonna do anything about that old bomb, if I’m honest. Here’s your reward, as promised. And a little extra.” He dug into his pockets and handed her a bag of caps and a key.

“A key?” Katherine looked at it, confused.

“Yep. Got an empty house nearby, been abandoned for a while now. It’s yours, if you want it. Gonna go ahead and assume you’ll need a place to stay. Speak to Moira about decorating it.” He tipped his hat at her and closed the door again.

That solved her problem of needing somewhere to stay, at least. Now to go back to Moriarty and get her things, along with whatever information he had on her father.

* * *

“And back she comes. So, are you just thirsty, or are you ready to pay me fee? Dear dad's not going to find himself.” Moriarty’s voice rang out as Katherine approached him. Frankly, she was too tired to deal with his snark at that point.

“I’ve got your caps.” She slung the bag of caps on the counter towards him. Given his fee was only a hundred caps, she’d shoved the rest into her pockets. “Tell me everything you know.”

“My, you’re turning into a right feisty one. And your father was so reserved. Take after your mum, eh? God rest her soul.” Moriarty counted through the caps, but Katherine froze.

“How do you know about my mom?” she demanded.

“I met your father right after you were born. It wasn’t hard to guess, a desperate man carrying a babe, no mother around. He stayed here at this very bar before he took you to that vault of yours.”

“What do you mean?” Her head swam, struggling to take in what he was saying. “How? I’ve lived in the vault all my life.”

“Is that what your father told you? That you were born in that hole? That _he_ was born there as well?” Moriarty looked surprised despite himself. “Ah, the lies we tell to those we love. Your father brought you to the Vault right after you were born. To keep you safe, you see. Sorry about your mum, kid, truly.”

“Why would he lie to me?” She wasn’t entirely sure if she believed what he was saying, but he _had_ seemed to recognise her when she’d first entered, and he seemed to know an awful lot about her father if he’d only met him the night prior.

“Kid, you've got better programming than our own Deputy Weld. You'd best wise up quick. Wouldn't want anyone... takin' advantage of ya. Hmm?” He looked at her pointedly. “Anyway, I’m taking it that that’s not the information you’re needing right now, correct?”

“You’re right,” she said reluctantly. “Where is he now?”

“Your dad came through here, all right. Didn't stay long, though. Said he had some important business to attend to, and headed off to the city. Something to do with Galaxy News Radio. Guess that'd be the place for you to start. Good hunting, and thanks for the caps.” He pocketed his caps and went off back towards his room.

Katherine took a moment to regain herself. It was a lot to take in at once. If she hadn’t been born in the vault, where had she been born? Why had her father taken her to the vault? What had really happened to her mother? Her brain buzzed with question after question. No wonder the overseer had never seemed to like her. He’d always been especially harsh towards her, and she’d always chalked it up to her being suspicious of her relationship to Amata. Although it could’ve always been a combination of the two - if he hadn’t liked her for being outside of the vault, there was no way he’d have liked her always being around Amata. If he’d actually known the full extent of their relationship, it was doubtful she’d have been allowed around Amata again.

She willed herself to focus, going up the stairs to gather her things. She _had_ to forget the vault. She had to forget Amata. Dwelling on things was just going to make things harder.

She’d completely forgotten about the whole soulmate ordeal until she’d walked back into the room she’d rented. It all came back to her then. God, the day had seemed to have lasted an entire year. How was it possible that in less than twenty-four hours her entire life had been uprooted, she’d left her home, travelled to Megaton, found out she had a soulmate, found out her soulmate was implied to be Butch DeLoria of all people, disarmed a bomb, found a new home, and found out she hadn’t been born in the vault? She was exhausted. She’d move her things over to her new house, she decided, and then get some sleep. If she tried to go after her father now, she’d likely just end up passing out in the wasteland, and she highly doubted she’d survive that experience.

It didn’t take her long to move her things. She’d had so little to begin with: a battered copy of _Grognak the Barbarian_ , given to her by Amata on her tenth birthday; the bag of caps from the sheriff; a couple of stimpacks; Jonas’ labcoat; her BB gun; a baseball and baseball glove, and the tunnel snakes jacket Butch had given her. She packed most of it into one of the lockers in her house, leaving out the comic and the jacket, which she carried upstairs to her new bedroom. The comic was worn from being read so many times, but she found that she knew most of it by heart anyway. She flipped through the pages, sat on her bed, and found herself missing Amata more than ever. She lay back on the mattress. The room was surprisingly cold, and the blanket didn’t do much to help it. She eyed up the jacket, which she’d strewn over the chair in the corner. She found herself embarrassed to be contemplating using it for warmth, which was stupid - for one, who would even know? And for two, using someone’s jacket for warmth doesn’t automatically make them soulmates. She stared at it for a further minute before giving in and pulling it over her chest, on top of the blanket.

It felt nicer than she’d expected - the material was soft and supple, warming her far better than the blanket. It still had a faint smell of Butch’s cologne. It wasn’t unpleasant, and she found herself unable to dislike it.

Her eyes felt heavy, suddenly. Exhaustion and homesickness hit her all at once. She set the comic down on her nightstand and lay staring at the ceiling, fighting back the urge to cry. Homesickness for a home she could never return to. A single tear slid down her face, then. She missed her dad. She missed Jonas. She even found herself missing Butch, if for the occasional snarky responses they would throw each other’s way. She missed Amata most of all. Amata would’ve known what to do now, would’ve kept her company in her new surroundings. She closed her eyes, pulling the jacket closer towards her, and allowed herself to weep into the pillow, her sobs stifled by the material.

It was in that position that she eventually drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a lot of Moriarty's dialogue straight from the game, but it was interesting to write some other dialogue for him. Again, this is my first attempt at a multichapter fic - it's impressive I've even managed a second chapter lmao. A pretty slow chapter overall, but I promise things will get more exciting in later chapters! What do you think so far? Should I focus solely on Katherine, or include some extracts from the vault in between chapters?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katherine adjusts to life outside of the vault, continuing the search for her father and learning more about soulmates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a longer chapter this time - I finally submitted all of my university work so I can focus on this fic more! Thank you to everyone who has shown support over the past few days, the kudos and comments mean a lot to me <3

It took Katherine a moment to register where she was upon waking. The room was darker than she was used to, although illuminated by a single beam of sunlight pouring in through a window behind her. It was the sunlight that had reminded her - she wasn’t in the vault anymore. It was warmer now, at least. She found that she’d wrapped herself up in Butch’s jacket - her jacket, she corrected, it wasn’t Butch’s anymore, he’d gifted it to her - in her sleep. Those tunnel snakes certainly knew how to prioritise comfort. She slipped it on properly, over her vault suit, having to fumble with her pipboy in order to get it off and then back on over the jacket. She frowned at herself. Her vault suit wasn’t exactly in its cleanest state. She doubted it would do her much protection out in the wasteland, either.

She sighed and checked the time on her pipboy. She was surprised to see it was nearly midday; she had slept for over twelve hours. At least it meant that Moira’s shop would be open for her to get some better gear to wear. While she was at it, asking about how to decorate the house might not be a bad idea either. With a groan, she dragged herself out of bed. She missed her room back at the vault. This room was unfamiliar still, with nothing to mark it as hers. She’d find new belongings, she decided, to make her house hers. Eventually she’d get used to the feel of the house.

* * *

It had been four days and she was still no closer to finding her dad.

She was, at least, finally adjusting to life in Megaton, but it seemed there was always something for her to do. First off she’d ended up fixing the pipes for Walter. Then a woman named Lucy had asked her to deliver a letter to her family in Arefu. She’d decided to take a detour to deliver it, only to discover Lucy’s parents were dead and her brother missing. She’d then had to go on a rescue mission to find the said brother, only to discover he was living with a group of self-proclaimed “vampires”. She’d convinced him to go home to Arefu and persuaded the group to ally themselves with the townspeople of Arefu and establish trade there. She’d returned to Lucy with the news and set out to find her father again, only to come across the Super Mart and remember Moira had asked her to find food and medicine there. Raiders had attacked her, so she’d had to work her way through the place, collecting the supplies and activating an old security bot. _Then_ she’d gone back to tell Moira, and Moira had sent her on another errand. One step forward, two steps back.

People in the town were beginning to warm up to her, too. She’d established a trade deal with Walter, bringing him scrap metal in return for caps. In doing so, she’d discovered one of Jenny’s brothers shooting up inside, and had ended up convincing him to try and break the habit, to which he’d given her the key to his desk. Lucy and Jenny were always friendly towards her, and the sheriff seemed to trust her more. Moriarty, unsurprisingly, treated her the same, but a few of the regulars at the bar would nod at her whenever she entered. She’d managed to scrape enough caps together to buy an infirmary station for her house, which had proved tremendously useful when she’d returned after a raider attack, wounded and bleeding. It certainly saved her from heading to the clinic every five minutes - she’d only met Doc Church her second day, but she’d seen him enough times since that she wouldn’t be surprised if he had her face memorised.

Moira looked delighted to see her again as she returned from another of her quests - walking through a minefield, no less.

“Well? How was it?” Moira inquired.

“I got you some mines,” Katherine said flatly, opening her bag and tipping them onto Moira’s counter. “Nearly blew my legs off about eight times. And there was some guy with a sniper rifle shooting at me. Got pinned behind a house for ten minutes after he blew up a car.”

Moira eyed up the sniper rifle Katherine now had attached to her back. “Looks like you dealt with it okay!”

“Please never send me back there.” She rubbed her eyes. “That’s the tasks done, right? Finished?”

“The first chapter, yes.”

“There’s more chapters?”

“Of course, silly!” Moira laughed. “These ones are a bit more difficult, but you’ve been wanting to head to that radio place, right? They’ll be on your way.”

Katherine perked up. “You know where it is?”

“Sure I do. Here, I’ll add some coordinates to your pipboy. You want to be careful, though, the D.C. area is infested with super mutants.” Moira took hold of her wrist, fiddling with the pipboy.

“Super what now?” Katherine stopped watching her wrist and looked up at her. Her only knowledge of mutants had been a game in the vault, where one kid pretends to be a mutant and hides while the other kids ‘hunt’ them. She hadn’t really thought about them existing, assuming them to be made up by the others kids.

“Humans mutated by the radiation, if you could still call them that. They’re very powerful.” Katherine didn’t like how chipper Moira’s tone still was. “Hey, it’ll provide a great experience for the book!”

“Great,” she mumbled. “So what do you need me to do?”

“First, here’s some stimpacks and some caps for finishing up the first chapter.” Moira dug around her desk and dumped the items on her counter, next to the mines. “There’s three things you need to do. I need you to test this repellent stick on some molerats-” she handed over a huge stick. “-three will be fine, but ideally ten. I also want to study how injuries affect you, so come see me after you’ve been badly injured. I’d also like you to plant this observer unit into a mirelurk nest, preferably without killing any of the mirelurks there.” She placed it on the counter as she spoke. Katherine stared down at the collection of things in front of her.

“And these will be on the way to finding Three Dog?” she asked weakly.

“Oh, yes! Just check the coordinates I added. I’ve marked the Galaxy News Radio building for you, too.” Moira beamed at her.

“Thanks.” Katherine started gathering the objects into her bag, tucking the stick under her arm. “I’ll let you know when I get to them. I need to see if my dad is still around there first.”

“No worries!” Moira sounded cheery as ever, waving at her as she left.

* * *

It proved relatively easy to follow the map marker on her pipboy now that she had one. For the most part there were remains of a road from before the war which seemed to lead in the right direction. She’d travelled back to the supermarket and according to her pipboy, she just needed to cross the water and go through the underground. The mirelurk nest was nearby, but she decided she’d wait before risking her life for Moira, particularly if she was going to have to go through super mutants.

She walked quietly, one hand on her newly acquired laser pistol, courtesy of a fallen raider. She could see raiders across the water. They hadn’t spotted her yet and she wanted to keep it that way if she could. If she was careful, she could get across without them spotting her.

She edged closer, making her way along the riverbank. There was a small shack nearby and she froze, noticing an elderly woman sat outside. As she watched, the elderly woman raised a hand at her, and waved. She looked around to see if the raiders had noticed before quietly heading towards the woman.

“Well, lookit' this! We got us a wanderer all the way out here in Wilhelm's Wharf! You mus' got some import'int bus'ness out here to be wandrin' around,” the old woman said cheerily.

“Oh, hello,” Katherine said cautiously. “Um. I was looking for the underground station nearby here…?”

“Just across the wa’er,” the woman said. “Say, you wanna be careful out there. Interested in tradin’?”

“Maybe another time.” She straightened back up. “Look after yourself, er…”

“Call me Grandma Sparkle.” She smiled.

“Okay. Take care.” Katherine gave her a nod before making her way to the nearby bridge. She didn’t really want to call her ‘Grandma’. Maybe it was due to the lack of her own grandparents. She’d never known any of her mother’s family, and her father had never talked about his own parents. Probably to sell the lie that they’d always lived in the vault, she thought glumly.

She took her time crossing the bridge, taking care to stay low. Surprisingly, she made it across without incident, and moved to the front of the buildings in order to blend in better. The raiders hadn’t even glanced in her direction, and she breathed a sigh of relief. The underground entrance was just a short walk up ahead of her. After a quick look at her surroundings, she slipped up to it and silently squeezed through the metal grate.

She’d never seen the underground before. In an odd way, it reminded her of the vault, and she felt a pang for her lost home. She heard scuffling ahead and froze, grabbing the repellent stick Moira had given her.

A mole rat came shuffling into view from around a corner. She’d suspected as much - the sounds had been too heavy to be radroaches. She took a step closer and froze as the mole rat turned towards her. She raised the stick in front of her, praying it worked, and as the mole rat ran at her, she swung. For a second nothing happened.

Then the mole rat’s head exploded.

Katherine shrieked, stumbling backwards and looking at the stick in horror. Another mole rat came running at her and on instinct she swung again, only for the exact same thing to happen.

“What the fuck?” she whispered, taking a moment to recover. Repellent stick her ass. At least it gave them a quick death, she supposed. Reluctantly, she pressed on.

Half an hour, eleven mole rats and four ghouls later, Katherine came across the other end of the subway. The feral ghouls had especially unsettled her - she’d changed her mind completely and couldn’t wait to be out of the underground. The painted signs directing towards the GNR building was the only thing getting her through it by that point.

She was careful as she exited, half expecting to walk straight into another enemy. Luckily the coast seemed clear. As she made a run to the nearest wall, bullets came flying at her and she dived for cover. From a small gap in the wall she could make out huge, yellow, humanoid creatures. They looked at least eight feet tall. They were the super mutants Moira had mentioned, she supposed. Crouching, she snuck along the wall, praying they’d lost sight of her. More bullets flying in her direction confirmed that they hadn’t.

Bullets being shot from her side caused her to jump and spin towards the source. Three people in heavy armour were firing back.

“Don’t just stand there, move!” one barked at her. She didn’t need to be told twice, racing behind them and around the corner to the nearest building. From her new perch, she fired off her gun at the nearest mutant, ducking down where necessary.

Eventually the hail of bullets died down and she watched as the three people started walking towards her, straightening up as they came close.

“Tha-” she started, only to be cut off by one of them, a blonde woman who appeared to be leading them.

“I don’t know who you are, but you don’t belong here. Super mutants have overrun our brothers at the Galaxy News Radio building and we’re headed there to back them up.”

“I’m heading there too,” Katherine told her. The woman looked her up and down.

“You can tag along if you want, but keep your head down and don’t do anything stupid,” she said eventually. Katherine nodded, following behind them as they walked around the building. There was another person in armour lying on a mattress as they passed. As she got closer, Katherine saw that he was dead.

“Mutants!” Someone in front of them yelled, and Katherine looked past her to see another one charging at them. The soldiers immediately went back into combat so she followed suite, sticking close to the blonde woman and firing her pistol at the closest enemies as they pressed through the building - previously an elementary of sorts. One of the soldiers - she couldn’t really tell them apart as they all wore helmets, except for the blonde woman - seemed to be getting particularly cocky.

“Reddin!” another soldier shouted. “Quit pissing around!”

“Aw, come on. We just kicked their asses!” the cocky soldier, presumably Reddin, shouted back as the last mutant in view fell. She pulled her helmet off, revealing a bald head. “Can’t we have a little fun sometimes?”

Katherine knelt by a fallen soldier amongst some rubble, picking up his dog tags.

“Hey-” she started, only to be drowned out by a cry of “BEHEMOTH!”

“What the-” A bus exploded before Reddin could finish her sentence, catching her in the blast.

“Reddin!” the previous soldier shouted. “Dammit! You there-” he turned to Katherine. “-grab that Fat Man from that fallen soldier!”

Katherine ran to the fountain, looking for the weapon he was speaking of, and grabbed it in time to see a twenty foot tall super mutant emerge from behind the bus’ explosion. She scrambled to load the gun, barely managing to hold it up, and fired a mini nuke at the creature, staggering backwards with its weight. The creature roared, stomping towards one of the soldiers, and she fired another nuke, this time losing her balance and falling back against the fountain. The soldiers fired at it relentlessly, and with a third nuke it was all over.

Panting, Katherine hauled herself upwards, seeing the blonde woman now comforting the other soldier. She made out the words “Reddin” “paladin” and “funeral” as she got closer.

“What the hell was that thing?” she gasped. The blonde woman looked at her.

“That was a super mutant behemoth. Where have you been living, under a rock?”

“No, I- I only left the vault a few days ago,” Katherine explained. She felt embarrassed, suddenly. “I’m looking for my father- I heard he was here.”

The blonde woman snorted. “You’d better hope he’s no longer here, or he’s a dead man.”

Seeing Katherine’s face fall, she continued more kindly, “I’m Sarah Lyons, head of Lyons’ Pride. You did good today. Three Dog will want to see you, just use the intercom on the building.” She pointed in its direction.

“Thank you,” Katherine mumbled. “I’m Katherine. Thank you for saving me. And, um, I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Reddin will be hailed as a hero,” Sarah said, and sighed. “I knew the recruits weren’t experienced enough. Don’t worry about us, though - it’s Three Dog you want.”

Katherine gave her a small nod and walked up to the building, waiting as one of the soldiers used the intercom and then gestured for her to enter.

Inside the building were more of the soldiers. It dawned on Katherine that she wouldn’t be able to tell who was Three Dog, so she went up to the closest soldier.

“Excuse me, I was told to come inside and ask for Three Dog…?” she said nervously. It’d be pretty embarrassing if Three Dog was the person she’d asked.

Thankfully, the soldier nodded. “Up the stairs then through the door. He’ll be interested in talking to you.”

“Thanks.” She went up the stairs, following his directions to the door, then up some more stairs to another door. She’d just pushed the door open when it occurred to her that she should’ve knocked first. Too late now.

“Hey, alright!” A man in front of her greeted her before she’d even stepped through the doorway. “You must be James’ kid! Looking for dad, huh?”

“Wh- you know my dad? How did you know I’m his daughter? And how did you know I’m looking for him?” Katherine stepped forward to take a better look at the man. He was wearing glasses and a headwrap, and looked _very_ enthusiastic. She was beginning to think everyone in the wasteland was just cheery all of the time.

“Woah, calm down, kid! You're a splitting image of the guy. He was here and now you’re here - doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. But first, introductions!” the man grinned at her. “I’m Three Dog, jockey of discs and teller of truths. I know who you are - heard about you leavin' that Vault, travelin' the unknown. Just like dear old Dad, hmm?”

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said politely, although her head was spinning. “If you have any information about my father it would really help me.”

“Well, aren’t you polite! Maybe we can help each other.” Three Dog gestured for her to sit down, sitting down at a desk himself. “Help fight the good fight and all.”

Another errand. Just her luck.

“What do you need me to do?” She sat down opposite him.

“Imagine a picture, okay? A picture of the Capital Wasteland. All that brick and rock. A whole lot of nothing, right? There's people out there trying to just barely make it by from day to day. Fighting to stay alive and make something of what they got. But then you've got all kinds of shit... Slavers, Super Mutants, Raiders... They all want a slice of the pie too and aim to take it by force,” he started. “People out there, they aren’t able to fight back against a lot of it. They just die. It ain’t right.”

“So you fight the good fight with your voice on the radio?” She glanced at the radio behind him, remembering Gob talking about the station when she’d first met him.

“Well, aren't you a chip off the old block? You ARE as smart as your dad. Here’s the problem. I rely on a satellite dish to get my voice out there, and those big brutes up at the Washington Monument broke the one I had. No dish, no audience. You see the issue?”

“So you want me to… repair it?”

“I need a new one, kid. Ain’t like there’s a factory producing them anymore. Now I’ve heard there’s one at the museum of technology, off the old Virgo II Lunar Lander. The Brotherhood of Steel won’t spare the men to go, and I’d get a bullet in my head faster than you could blink if I left this place. That’s where you come in.”

“The Brotherhood of Steel are the people in the armour, right?”

“You got it. I need you to head to the museum and grab the dish for me, then get it to the Washington Monument and get my voice heard again. Place is crawling with mutants, though, so you’re gonna have to be careful.”

“Could you mark the locations on my pipboy?” Katherine held her arm out to him.

“Huh. I sure can.” Three Dog looked at the pipboy with interest before fiddling with it.

“Once I’ve fixed it, you’ll tell me where my dad went?” she said, to be sure.

“Like I said, you help me, I help you, kid. Consider that a promise.”

“You’ve got a deal.” She went to hold out her hand, only for Three Dog to still be holding her pipboy. “I’d shake your hand, but…”

“You got it.” He shook her hand and let go of the pipboy. “Should be all marked for you now. Good luck out there.”

“Thanks.” She felt she was beginning to sound like a stuck record, thanking everyone she met. “Hopefully it won’t take too long.”

* * *

Not too long her ass.

It had taken her an hour alone to find the museum, barely making it past the supermutants on the way there. Then she’d gotten lost inside of the museum, being shot at from what seemed like every direction. Somehow she’d managed to take down each supermutant, although she’d had to rely on stealth rather than skill - they’d been big, but she’d soon found that they weren’t particularly clever. Once they were all down, she’d been able to follow the bodies for the most part, which led her to the dish. Getting the dish down had been another matter, but after a series of struggles, she’d eventually freed it.

It had taken another hour on top of that to get to the Washington Monument, especially while carrying a satellite dish - it had considerably slowed her progress down and made it much harder to shoot at enemies. There’d been soldiers outside, thankfully, and from there it had seemed like smooth sailing, until it had come to actually repairing the device. She had knowledge in repair, sure, but she’d never seen anything of the like before.

Finally she had managed it, and then it was walking back through the area to tell Three Dog it had been mended.

In short, she was exhausted.

“Hey, kid! You did it!” Three Dog cheered as she practically crawled in through the door.

“Anything to help fight the good fight,” she said weakly.

“Kid, you struck a major blow against tyranny! You did good. Now my voice can be heard across the wasteland again! That’ll show Eden and the rest of those bastards.”

Katherine didn’t know who he was talking about, but she was too tired to care at that point.

“Now, a deal’s a deal. When your dad passed through here, he and I talked for a good long time. He's a real stand-up kind of guy. He mentioned some scientific mumbo-jumbo which didn't make sense to me and mentioned something called "Project Purity". He also said something about going to visit a Doctor Li in Rivet City. Then, he left in a hurry. That was a good couple of days ago now though, so I can’t promise he’ll still be there.”

“Rivet City?” Katherine’s face fell. “Where’s that?”

“You don’t know Rivet City? Figures, I guess. Just follow the river south from here... there's no way you can miss it.”

“Thanks,” she mumbled. Three Dog looked at her, a tad concerned.

“Listen, kid… you’ve helped us out tremendously. Chances are your dad’s moved on from Rivet City and you’ll find out where he is when you get there. Get some rest, huh? You look like you’re about to pass out.” He pushed open a door behind him. “Take a nap or something. You’re welcome to use anything you need here anytime.”

“Thanks,” she said again. Her entire body ached and her arms felt like they were going to drop off any second. She walked over to the bed and sat down on it slowly.

“Three Dog?” she asked after a moment.

“What’s up?” He turned to look at her from where he was sat with his radio.

“What do you know about soulmates?”

“You don’t know about soulmates?” He looked surprised. “Man, what do they teach you in that vault?”

“I’d guess they didn’t want us leaving trying to find soulmates.” She sighed. “I know some things, now. Like… I know everyone gets a phrase on their wrist. Something about nicknames? I don’t really understand much beyond that, though.”

“Nobody knows how it started. Apparently it’s been happening since before the war, so no chance of it being radiation poisoning turning everyone insane. You turn eighteen and you get a phrase on your wrist, and then whoever calls you that phrase is your soulmate. Or so they say.” Three Dog hummed. “It’s not the most foolproof of methods. Anyone can look at your wrist and call you what it says. Lotsa people hide them, nowadays. Too many people taken advantage of, especially with slavers running around. Heard a nasty tale about people getting turned into slaves after slavers faked the phrase. Awful business.”

“So it doesn’t mean anything?” Katherine lay back, looking at her wrist, despite it being covered by her pipboy.

“I wouldn’t say it doesn’t mean anything. Most people stick to em, see. Just… there’s lots of room for error. If you introduce yourself as the nickname on your wrist, everybody’s gonna call you the name. That being said, I’ve heard the phrase is only the _first_ nickname your soulmate gives you, not necessarily what they end up calling you. Tough luck for anyone who started off disliking their soulmate, eh?”

“Do people only focus on their soulmates? Like, are you stuck with that person?”

“Well… not really. It’s a wasteland, after all. I try to keep hope up as much as I can on the radio, but lots of people assume their soulmate to be dead already. Which isn’t even how it works, as then your soulmate would never be able to call you anything, so they can’t have been your soulmate to begin with! I’ve heard rumours of people never getting a mark, just having blank wrists - _that_ would likely mean that their soulmate is dead. As for are you stuck with them, again… it differs from person to person. Lots of people ignore their phrases.” He looked at her over his glasses. “You got your phrase yet? Or no phrase? I’m assuming there’s a phrase, given all the questions.”

“... Yeah,” she admitted, and then sighed. “I mean, I’m not certain if it means who I think it means, but… I’ve been called the name before.”

“I’m sorry, kid. Your soulmate dying can be disheartening, but-”

“No, no,” she interrupted. “Sorry, he’s not dead. Just… not the person I expected.”

“Who’d you expect? I gotta say, I’m surprised you had expectations, coming from a vault.” He’d fully turned towards her now, paying full attention.

“There was this girl, right? Amata, her name was. We’d been friends since we were small. We… We had something. I thought. She called me Tessa, ‘cause my name back then was Therese. So when I heard about soulmarks, I thought… well, I thought my wrist would say Tessa.” She quietly took her pipboy off, sliding her sleeve back up. “But it wasn’t. It was this.” She held out her wrist to Three Dog, who looked at it with interest.

“Nosebleed? That’s rough, kid. You know who it is though? You said ‘he’.” He folded his arms, but still looked interested in her story.

“Yeah. I think so, anyway. See, there was this guy… I’ve known him since we were kids, too. He’s a bit older than me. Anyway, me and him, we never got on. He used to pick on me and Amata, growing up. Amata was really my only friend, and I was defensive of her, so I hated him, and I think he hated me too. We fought a lot as kids. He even tried to steal my sweetroll on my tenth birthday, but I outran him and he gave up.” She let out a little laugh. “It must sound so stupid to you, but we really did despise each other.”

“I think I see where this is going,” Three Dog said.

“The last couple of years weren’t so bad. I mean, he was still insufferable, but we mostly left each other alone. I… I was more focused on myself and Amata, then. ‘Cause we… Like I said, I thought we had a thing going on. Then my dad left the vault, and the overseer went nuts, and everything was chaos. My dad’s assistant, Jonas, was already dead, killed by some of the security guards. I was running for it, and the guy begged for my help, said his mom was in danger. I couldn’t just leave her, so I helped. It had surprised me that he asked for my help, but then he declared me his best friend ever, and gave me his jacket- this jacket,” Katherine held up her arms, gesturing to jacket she had on, “and I barely had time to process it, ‘cause I had to get out, y’know? And then I got to Megaton, found out about soulmates, and saw the mark. It’s his nickname for me. From when we were kids and we hated each other. He used to call me nosebleed, ‘cause I’d headbutted him so hard once that I gave myself a nosebleed. And… well, that’s it. I don’t know what it means. I can’t go back to the vault, so it’s not like I’m going to see him again. I don’t even know if I actually like him to begin with, let alone picturing him as my soulmate.”

Three Dog was quiet for a moment, looking thoughtful.

“That’s a lot going on in your head, kid.” He said eventually. “Give yourself a break, though. You’re processing a lot at the moment - heartbreak, new surroundings, looking for your dad, and now a soulmate you thought you hated? It’s natural you’re gonna feel confused.”

“I haven’t told anyone else that I have a soulmate,” Katherine said after a moment. “I lied to the last person who asked and said I hadn’t looked. I… feel a bit better, being able to voice things.”

“Anytime.” He gave her a smile. “Now please, get some sleep - I don’t want your dad storming back in here once you find him because I didn’t make sure his daughter looked after herself.”

“I’m an adult,” she complained, although she closed her eyes.

“You sure are,” Three Dog hummed again, and she heard him start talking to his radio. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, having Butch as a soulmate. Besides, like she’d said - it’s not like she was ever going to see him again. With that thought, she drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is going to be from Butch's perspective, so keep an eye out for it! I'm hoping to update at least weekly, so it shouldn't be too long a wait :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back in the vault, Butch struggles to figure out his feelings and joins Amata's rebellion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again reminding that Katherine's name when she was in the vault was Therese, nicknamed "Tessa" by Amata, to clear up any confusion. Hope you enjoy!

It had been four days since the doc and his kid had scarpered, and Butch found Amata at his door. This was a surprise for a number of reasons - namely that it was the middle of the night, and they weren’t friends. She’d woken him up, banging on his door. He’d considered ignoring it and going back to sleep, but that left the possibility of his mother being woken, and he already knew she was going to have a hangover.

“What do you want?” he grunted, cracking the door open.

“Hello to you too,” Amata said. “Don’t take this as something personal. I’m starting a rebellion against my fa- against the overseer. If you’re interested, come to the clinic at two. If you’re not, don’t show up, but if you sell me out, I won’t hesitate to shoot you.”

“Jesus, Amata.” Butch yawned. “Have you even ever fired a gun?”

“Yes.” She frowned at him. “I don’t remember you firing one, so quit the mockery. I’m only letting you know since you covered for Tessa, and Paul asked.”

“Paulie’s joined?” Butch was awake now. “Who else?”

“A few people.” She folded her arms. “Like I said, if you’re interested, meet us at the clinic. You’ll get more information there.”

“Are you knocking on everyone’s doors asking them to join? Because that’s not a great method for being secret.”

“No, I’m not. Like I said, I’m only inviting you because of Paul and since you helped Tessa when she escaped.” She turned away from him. “Clinic. Two o’clock.”

She disappeared down the corridor. Butch watched her leave before closing the door and eyeing the time. It was half past one, half an hour until Amata’s meeting at the clinic. He considered his options. On the one hand, it was likely the only person he was friendly with there would be Paul, and it would be even more likely that it would be dangerous to associate himself with a group actively calling themselves rebels, given that there were still bodies lying throughout the vault as “a warning”. On the other hand, life in the vault had become dangerous anyway, with most of the security guards seemingly on a power trip, and having a group of people opposing that might be the thing needed to try and right things again. Plus, the tunnel snakes had all but disbanded, with Wally following his asshole of a brother around and threatening people and Paul shying away. Butch would much rather be on Paul’s side than Wally’s side. On top of all that, Therese _had_ helped his mother, so in part he probably owed it to her to help out her friend. That would settle his debt, and then he could stop thinking about when she’d helped him.

He took another look at the clock and sighed. The clinic wasn’t too far from his room - he could probably make it in five minutes, tops. He might as well go see what’s going on, he supposed. It didn’t necessarily mean anything. With twenty minutes left before he should leave, he went to get changed out of his pajamas, dragging his comb through his hair to tidy it up - he wouldn’t have people commenting on his bed hair, not on his watch.

It didn’t take him long to freshen up, finding himself with ten minutes spare. He wasn’t sure what to do with himself. He pulled his jacket on, paused, pulled it off again and examined it. It was an older one and he still wasn’t used to it, needing to touch it up to get it to the quality of his last jacket. Idly he wondered where the other jacket was now. Probably dumped somewhere in the wasteland, he thought sadly. Or sold on. Or next to Therese’s corpse.

He winced. The thought of the jacket laying abandoned was the reason, he decided. He didn’t care what happened to her or her stupid father. If it wasn’t for her father, they wouldn’t even be in this mess.

 _And if it wasn’t for her, you’d be an orphan,_ a small part of him reminded him. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, putting his jacket back on.

“Shut up,” he said quietly, adjusting his pipboy over the sleeves. The small clock on the screen told him it was time for him to get going. He quietly slipped out of the room and made his way towards the clinic.

Amata was already there, along with a handful of other people. He recognised Paul immediately, and was surprised to see Mr. Brotch among the others. Amata looked up at him as he came through the door.

“You came,” she said. She sounded surprised.

“Don’t overthink it,” he scoffed. “I’m not stupid enough to side with the overseer.”

If the remark hurt Amata, she didn’t show it, giving a simple nod in response. Butch took a seat next to Paul, who gave him a smile.

“I’m glad you came around, man,” he said. Butch stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets.

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered. “Like I said, I’m not stupid.”

“Wally sided with the overseer,” Paul reminded him.

“Yeah, and Wally’s stupid as shit, following his psychotic brother around.” Paul pulled a face, and Butch noticed that Susie Mack was sat nearby them. She didn’t seem to have heard him, but Butch lowered his voice anyway. “I don’t want any part of that bullshit.”

Ahead of them, Amata cleared her throat.

“Thank you all for coming,” she said. “I know a lot of you are scared right now, and I really appreciate that you turned up despite that. As you already know, I’m forming a rebellion against the overseer and his security. They can’t just kill us to keep us in the vault. It’s our right to be able to leave if we want to. If we can’t leave, then this vault is a prison, not a home.”

A few people clapped, and she put a finger to her lips.

“A lot of people unfairly blame Dr. Albert, and to an extent, his daughter Therese. I don’t care what you think about them, but they are not our enemy. Those who keep us in here are. Jonas Palmer was murdered just for helping Dr. Albert. Tom and Mary Holden were murdered just for making a break for it. We can’t blame the ones who managed to get out - they’ve only shown us what we were blind to all along.” She paused, and Butch noticed her hands were shaking. “We’ve all been affected. Some of you have already lost people. I lost my best friend. Now I’m standing up to my father. We _will_ get the vault open, I promise you that. I want all of you to be as careful as possible around security so they don’t get any suspicions before we’ve had time to properly establish ourselves. Each of you will get given roles over time. Ultimately, we may lose people. I cannot guarantee anyone’s safety. But if we don’t do anything, we’ll all end up killed anyway. If you aren’t comfortable putting yourself at risk, you should leave now.”

She stopped, looking around the room. Nobody moved. Butch glanced at Paul, who looked enthralled, then at Susie, who was shaking but remained sat down.

“Then all of you consent to being part of the rebellion,” Amata continued eventually. “We’ll rendezvous here, at the clinic. It’s our best place for a base, and the medical supplies will come in helpful. I think it’s fitting, since Dr. Albert and Jonas kicked things off, relatively speaking. That’s all for tonight. Keep an ear out for our next meeting, and don’t breathe a word to anyone outside of this room. I don’t care if they’re your family. We’ve got to look out for ourselves now.”

Butch watched her as people began slipping out of the room. Less than a week ago Amata wouldn’t have said a word in her own defense - usually Therese was the one defending her. It was strange to see how different she’d become in only a few days, outspoken and… colder, in a way. He wouldn’t have thought she’d had it in her, and truthfully he was a little impressed.

“See ya around, Butch,” Paul said, and Butch whipped around to look at him.

“Yeah man, see you,” he responded, getting up himself. Most people had left, leaving Amata talking to Mr. Brotch. Not wanting to get left alone with them, he pulled his jacket tighter and started walking back towards his room.

Reaching the corridor that led to his room, he stopped. He couldn’t pin why, but he felt the urge to walk to Therese’s room. He hadn’t passed it since before everything had kicked off. He couldn’t actually remember when he’d last gone near it. Without thinking, he found himself walking further down and towards her room.

The door opened easily, catching him off guard. He’d expected it to be locked, if not by Therese then by security. Stood in the doorway, he looked across the room. He felt as though if he took another step he’d disturb the room, stupid as it sounded. It wasn’t being used anymore.

“Butch?”

Butch jumped, and turned to see Amata walking towards him.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, trying to make his voice gruff.

“What are _you_ doing here? This is Tessa’s room.” She gave him a funny look.

“I… dunno,” he admitted. “I was just thinking as I was walking back to my room. And then I found myself here.”

“You can think?” she joked quietly. He elbowed her, but took care not to actually injure her. He felt weird, talking to her. Weirder still being outside of Therese’s room.

"How come you’re here? I thought you were in the clinic,” he said. Amata flushed red.

“I, um… Sometimes I sleep here. When… Well, when I feel lonely,” she confessed. “I’m not used to her being gone yet.”

“Me neither.” It was quiet for a few seconds. “I dunno why I care. It’s not like we were friends.”

“Missing your rival? Not unheard of, I suppose.” Amata stepped into the doorway, then stopped beside him.

“Were we rivals?” Butch stuck his hands back into his jacket. He’d started to do it in attempts to stay looking cool, particularly when he was feeling… uncool. “I guess we were. In a way.”

“Well. You were an asshole, mostly.” She took another step forward. “You should come inside, in case security comes by. They’re not a fan of hanging around outside.”

“I… Can I?” He felt nervous, which was stupid, as what did he have to be nervous about? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“Of course.” Amata went and sat in one of the seats, looking at the doorway into Therese’s bedroom. After a brief pause, Butch went and sat on the seat besides her, closing the door behind him. He was careful as he sat down, not wanting to accidentally move anything.

Silence fell between them.

“Tessa was my best friend,” Amata said eventually. “And… more than that. You used to tease her about being my girlfriend whenever she stuck up for me and I was always so scared that you suspected something, but you never did. You were just being an asshole.”

“You and Therese… were banging?” Butch couldn’t hide the shock in his voice, and Amata went red again.

“I wouldn’t put it so crudely. But, uh, yes. We never labelled things. We couldn’t. My father would’ve gone crazy if he knew. He and Dr. Albert already had a strained relationship, and we couldn’t risk making things worse. When I woke her up the morning Jonas was killed, she smiled at me and told me she’d just been dreaming about me. And… I had to tell her that her father was gone and Jonas was dead. Her face fell so fast. And then I had to tell her to run for it. I’d ran all the way to her room to warn her because I knew my father would kill her if I didn’t.” Amata stared down at her hands in her lap, screwing them into fists. “She’d had no idea her dad planned on leaving. She just woke up one morning and had to leave the vault or die. And now everyone around here seems to blame her, even though she tried to help as much as she could as she was leaving. She saved me when that awful Officer Mack was interrogating me, punched him right in the face. She took down as many of the radroaches as she could. She risked her own life for people that wanted her dead and now everyone blames her and it’s not fair.”

A tear dropped onto her hands. Butch watched her awkwardly, unsure what to do. He opted for patting her back clumsily.

“She helped my mom,” he said quietly. “After everything I’d done to her over the years. I didn’t even piece together what had happened at the time, just that Therese was running past as I went for help. I didn’t think, just begged her to help me. And she did. Then I found out that security was looking for her, and what had happened. Even though she was running for her life, she stopped to help me. I’ve been thinking about it since it happened. I don’t know why.”

“She always did put other people first.” Amata sniffled. “I really miss her. I don’t know why I told you all of this.”

“Hey, I don’t usually talk to people about what’s going on with me,” Butch straightened up. “Trust me, the feeling is mutual.”

“I don’t have the energy to hate you anymore.” She wiped her eyes. “Things are so much bigger than childhood enemies now, you know? I just wish she was still here.”

“Me too,” he admitted. “Even if only so that I could do her a favour and call it even.”

“Do you think she’s okay? Out in the wasteland?” Amata stood up unsteadily and walked slowly towards Therese’s bedroom, picking up a battered teddy bear from the dresser. “I mean, she was always capable of looking after herself in the vault, but… who knows what it’s like out there?”

The image of Therese lying dead on the ground flashed up in Butch’s mind again.

“Yes,” he said firmly, ignoring his own thoughts. “Hey, I said she was a tunnel snake now. Everyone knows tunnel snakes can’t be taken down.”

“You and your stupid tunnel snakes,” Amata said, but there was no venom in her voice. She was cradling the teddy bear to her chest. “That explains the jacket. I’d wondered why she was carrying one.”

“It was the best I could offer her as thanks.” It was Butch’s turn to go red. “I dunno why I thought it was a good idea. She probably got rid of it the first chance she got.”

“I don’t know, Therese was always very sentimental.” Amata opened the dresser. “Look, she kept all the drawings I gave her over the years.”

“Yeah, but you just said you and her were a thing,” Butch pointed out, walking over to the dresser. “She never liked me.”

“You never liked her,” Amata shot back.

“I was an asshole.” Butch’s voice went quiet, almost soft. “I don’t even have an excuse, really. I was mad that she had a dad who cared about her, I think. That and she was such a goody-goody, and then she was best friends with you, and the overseer was your dad, y’know? You were just an easy target and she was easy to rile up.”

“Yeah, you were.” Amata set the teddy back down on top of the drawers. “We were kids though, for the most part. Your mom… she didn’t look after you, not the way she should’ve. Neither did my dad with me,” she went on quickly as Butch opened his mouth to retort. “I’m not hating on your mother. I just think we both had bad parents. Dr. Albert… he just had that aura about him of caring about you. I used to wish he was my dad, when I was little. But he had his problems too. Therese idolised him, but he took advantage of it, maybe without even realising. And then he abandoned her when he left. What kind of parent leaves their child to their own fate, knowing how dangerous it could be? Neither of us will ever really know to what extent things affected Therese. We were all caught up in our own business.”

“I had no idea.” Butch hung his head. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for everything.”

“I’m not going to say it’s okay, because obviously it wasn’t, but I’m over it now.” Amata turned back to look at him. “Tell you what. Things have changed in the vault anyway. Fresh start?”

She held her hand out to him. Butch looked at it for a second before shaking it.

“Fresh start.” He agreed. She smiled at him, and for a second Butch wondered if they’d had been friends if he hadn’t been such an asshole.

“You should get back to your room,” Amata said after a moment. “It’s getting late, we should go to bed.”

“If you want me in bed, just say so.” He raised an eyebrow, causing Amata to elbow him.

“You’re not helping your case. Go on, get going.” She gave him a light shove. He put his hands up as if in surrender and started walking out of the bedroom.

“Oh, and Butch?”

“Yeah?” He cast a glance over his shoulder.

“Any time you want to talk, we can meet here.”

“Yeah, okay.” Butch waved his hand at her, acting cool despite feeling for the first time as though a weight had lifted. Within minutes he was back in his own room, feeling warm inside. He hadn’t expected talking to Amata to be so… freeing. For the first time in a while, he went to bed feeling content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Butch's perspective for once! No sign of his word yet - I wanted to explore his relationship in the vault first, and establish Butch and Amata starting to be on good terms. As always, thank you for the reviews and kudos, they help massively with my writing motivation!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katherine meets Dr. Li in Rivet City.

“My God,” Dr. Li had said the second she saw Katherine. “You look just like him.”

They were sat in her office now, just the two of them, sipping coffee. Well, Dr. Li was sipping coffee - Katherine had opted to hold the mug in her lap, feeling the warmth in her hands. Although Dr. Li had invited her in, Katherine got the distinct impression that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with her showing up. 

“I’m surprised to see you here,” Dr. Li said eventually. She’d placed her coffee mug down on a clipboard on the desk, presumably acting as a placemat. Katherine kept her nestled between her hands, not quite trusting herself not to knock it over if she loosened her grip. “James gave me the impression that we weren’t going to see you again.” 

“I couldn’t stay in the vault after he left,” Katherine said quietly. To her surprise, Dr. Li snorted. 

“So you decided to leave one of the safest places in the Wasteland, even though it was in your best interest to stay? Sounds familiar.” Dr. Li straightened her coffee mug, and Katherine swore she shot her a disapproving look. 

“They tried to kill me,” she said coolly, fighting a surge of anger. “Hardly one of the safest places for me.” 

Dr. Li, at the least, had the decency to flush red, looking surprised. 

“My apologies. I… I wouldn’t have expected that from a vault.” 

Katherine took the opportunity to drink her coffee rather than respond. It was more bitter than she was used to, and she swallowed hard before setting her mug back down in her lap. 

“James isn’t here,” Dr. Li carried on after a moment. She looked uncomfortable. “From what he said, he’s gone to the old lab.” 

“What old lab? Something to do with Project Purity?” 

“It’s at the Jefferson Memorial. And yes, though I’m surprised your father told you about it. It’s been many years since it was abandoned.” 

“He didn’t,” she replied. “He’d mentioned it to someone else, and they told me. I don’t know anything about the project.” 

“Maybe it’s for the best.” Dr. Li’s voice was sharp. “I already told him that it’s over and that I won’t go back to it.” 

It was quiet for a moment. Katherine forced herself to take another sip of her coffee, if only to not appear ungrateful. 

“This is clearly difficult for you,” she said carefully. “I’m sorry that my father disrupted your life like this. It’s…” she paused for a moment, unsure how much she wanted to disclose. “It’s not the first time he’s done this, as you can tell by me being here at all. But please, any information you have, whether about him or the project, would really help me.” 

Dr. Li stared at her for a few seconds and then let out a soft sigh. 

“You may look like James, but you sound just like Catherine.” She seemed to be avoiding her gaze. “I… I’m sorry that you never had time with her.” 

“You knew my mother?” Katherine’s voice softened. “I never met her.” 

“Yes. Your mother was... well, she was a good woman. A very dedicated scientist. Your father loved her very much.” Her expression seemed to turn sour for a second but quickly smoothed out again. “It was a shame that she died. She’d been excited to meet you.” 

“If you don’t mind me asking, what… what was the reason she died?” She felt stupid saying it, but a sudden thirst for knowledge about her mother had taken over. 

“Complications from childbirth,” Dr. Li said. Her tone had turned almost sympathetic. “You have to understand, we were struggling with scavenged, derelict equipment. None of us had been expecting it. We… we weren’t as prepared as we could have been.” 

She felt her blood turn to ice, and the anger from earlier bubbled up again inside her. 

“How could you not have been prepared?” The words burst from her before she could stop herself, and she was horrified to feel tears spurting down her cheeks. “There would’ve been months to prepare. She’s _gone_ , and all this time it was because nobody had prepared?” 

“Like I said, I’m sorry. Unfortunately what’s done is done.” Any sympathy in the doctor’s voice had gone. Katherine wiped her eyes with one hand furiously, taking a deep breath. 

“My apologies. I’m sure you did everything that you could.” She sniffled, bringing the coffee mug to her lips again. 

“Yes, well, it seems there’s James in you too,” Dr. Li muttered. 

“What was he like? Back when you knew him?” Finally draining the last of the coffee, Katherine set the mug on the clipboard next to the other mug. 

“He was very driven. He had a way of talking that would persuade you to keep listening. He just… had this manner. Determined to make a change, make the world better. He and your mother led the project, but it was James who had convinced us to help them.” She looked wistful. “Lots of us admired him, but he only ever had attention for the project and your mother. After she died… I think he gave up. I know he wanted you to be safe, but truthfully he ran away. He abandoned the project, leaving with you for that vault. He left us all behind without a second thought. And now he shows up here again, nearly twenty years later, wanting to try the project again? I would say it’s unbelievable, but when it comes to James, it really isn’t. It seems he abandoned you the same way.” 

She’d subconsciously moved her hand to her wrist. It suddenly became clear why she’d been so uncomfortable to see her. 

“My father… The phrase on your wrist is a nickname he gave you, isn’t it?” Katherine straightened up. Dr. Li flinched as though she’d struck her. 

“What? What makes you say that?” She demanded. 

“You hold your wrist as you talk about him,” Katherine pointed out gently. “I don’t mean to intrude, but what does it mean? Was my mother not his soulmate?” 

“Oh, Catherine was his soulmate alright,” Dr. Li said bitterly. “We all knew that much. They were married when we met them, and James never shied away from showing his soulmark.” 

“But… how can he be your soulmate and you not be his?” Katherine glanced at her own wrist, hidden once more by her pipboy. 

“Not all soulmates are reciprocated.” Dr. Li folded her arms, staring down at the mugs in front of her. Katherine just looked at her, agape. She hadn’t even considered the possibility that soulmates could be unrequited. 

“I’m sor-” she started, but Dr. Li cut her off. 

“Save your pity. I don’t need it from you, of all people.” 

Katherine bit her lip and nodded slowly. 

“Thank you,” she said instead, “for all of your help. I… I should go look for my father.” 

“You should,” Dr. Li agreed. 

“Thank you for the coffee,” Katherine added, hastily getting up. Dr. Li didn’t respond, just waved her hand in her direction. 

Katherine was at the door when Dr. Li spoke again. 

“Ms Albert?” 

“Mhm?” Katherine looked back at her, one hand already pushed against the door. 

“Best to learn that lesson now, before you get your hopes up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter this time - sorry for the slight delay! I've been playing through the Dragon Age games again alongside the fallout games, so I've been more preoccupied with playing the games than actually writing :) I promise I haven't forgotten about this fic! As always, comments & kudos are appreciated <3  
> What do you think of the story so far? Let me know!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A longer chapter to make up for the short one last chapter! Enjoy!

_Not all soulmates are reciprocated._ Dr. Li’s words echoed in her head as she walked through the doors of Rivet City, back into the grey outdoors. She should be worrying about what enemies could be at the Jefferson Memorial - she’d had enough of run-ins with super-mutants, raiders and other wasteland creatures - but she couldn’t shake the memory of Dr. Li’s expression. There had been hurt clear in her face, although it had been obvious she’d tried to hide it. And she - Katherine - served as a reminder of that hurt. 

Truthfully, she couldn’t figure out how she felt about Dr. Li overall. Her chest still felt tight from the mention of her mother, and Dr. Li’s apparent apathy towards her mother’s death had done her no favours. On the other hand, it struck her that it would’ve been difficult to see a soulmate already married, and harder still to see them turn up again after almost twenty years. She tried to think of how she’d feel if the daughter of her soulmate turned up unexpectedly at her door after twenty years. 

_Butch’s daughter_ , her brain corrected, and she frowned to herself. She doubted Butch of all people would have a kid. Besides, she wasn’t going to see Butch again. She couldn’t go back to the vault, so it didn’t even _matter_ that she probably wasn’t Butch’s soulmate. He could do what he wanted with his soulmate in the vault. As if she cared. 

_Probably Susie Mack_ , her brain continued, and she couldn’t stop herself from pulling a face. Of course Susie would be Butch’s soulmate. It fit a bunch of tropes from the holotapes she used to watch with Amata - sister of best friend, childhood crush… who knew what other ones. If in twenty years Butch and Susie’s daughter shows up on her doorstep, so be it. Good luck even tracking her down from the vault. They probably wouldn’t have even heard of her. She certainly hadn’t heard of Dr. Li. 

It occurred to her that there were some differences between her meeting Dr. Li and her meeting a hypothetical daughter of Butch. For one, Dr. Li had been in love with her father. She was _pretty sure_ that she wasn’t in love with Butch. She imagined him and Susie falling for each other as she walked, ignoring the twisting feeling in her stomach. Good for them. Susie had always been rude to her, so she’d get along fabulously with Butch. What did _she_ care if they dated? If they got married? If they had a child, or- 

She stopped walking. She’d been following the directions on her pipboy, but for the past ten minutes she hadn’t even been registering the screen, head filled with imaginary scenarios of Butch and Susie’s happy family in the future. She hadn’t strayed too far from her path, at the least, but she mentally scolded herself for not paying attention - it wasn’t as though the wasteland was the safest place to be. It wouldn’t do her any good to think about hypothetical scenarios in the vault - even if she’d just remembered overhearing Butch telling Paul that Susie wasn’t his type, therefore meaning it was unlikely that Susie _was_ his soulmate. She thought about Butch chatting up some other girl in the vault, though she couldn’t imagine a face for her. She could practically see it playing out in front of her - he’d be wearing that stupid jacket of his, and he’d have that stupid smirk on his face, and the girl would be fawning over him, probably. He’d use some pick-up line, give her a nickname, and they wouldn’t even know about being soulmates, but they’d be happy, and in love, and… She caught sight of her reflection in a cracked window and scowled at it. To her annoyance, she realised she’d been picturing herself in the girl’s place, which was neither helpful nor reasonable. As if she’d ever fall for Butch DeLoria! The soulmate idea had obviously been getting to her. 

She examined her pipboy map again and resumed walking towards the Jefferson Memorial. She was pretty sure she could see it in the distance, but it was too far off to make out if there were any creatures or people around it. God, was she going to become like Dr. Li? Maybe having an unrequited soulmark was taboo, and nobody else would want anything to do with it. Maybe that’s why Dr. Li wasn’t seeing anybody. Unless she _was_ seeing somebody. She hadn’t thought to ask, although perhaps it was for the best - she doubted it would’ve gone well for her. She’d assumed that Dr. Li wasn’t seeing anyone else given how she had talked about her father. Maybe it was just fresh for her. Seeing him again probably brought up the past. That wouldn’t happen to her - she’d be shot dead if she went back to the vault, and it was highly unlikely that the overseer would let anyone else leave. The thought of a forty year old Butch with salt-n-pepper hair to go with his dumb smirk entered her mind and she blinked, immediately pushing it straight back out of her head. Dr. Li had gotten into her head, that was all. It didn’t matter if her soulmate bond was unrequited, because there was no chance of her seeing Butch again, much less falling for him. If anything, it was selfish to entertain the idea of it. It _should_ be unrequited - that way, at least, one of them could have a shot at a happy ending. 

* * *

Surprisingly, Jefferson Memorial appeared devoid of creatures trying to kill her. There’d been a couple of super mutant bodies outside so she’d been careful, entering through a gift shop door, but she’d searched the majority of the upper building without running into anything. With no sign of her father, she’d gone to search the rotunda, finding a stack of tapes labelled with her father’s handwriting, which is how Katherine ended up at some seemingly abandoned shed in the middle of nowhere. Moira’s repellent stick had made quick work of the few mole rats inside. 

“Hello?” Katherine called out, repellent stick still raised. If anyone was there, they didn’t reply. Her pipboy had led her to the garage under guise of Vault 112 being nearby, where her father had supposedly headed to, but she couldn’t see a vault door anywhere. 

“Dad?” she tried again. The tapes had said that the vault entrance was hidden in the garage somewhere. Her eyes swept the room, walking through to the other side. It was a small building, mostly filled with stacks of tires and other junk, boxes with spare parts and other things she couldn’t name, but two metal doors on the floor caught her eye. Above it was a switch. Praying she was right, she pulled the switch, and watched as the doors swung open, revealing a staircase down into the dark. Turning on her pipboy light, she quietly descended, following the stairs until she came to a metal door. There were a couple of radroach corpses nearby - her father’s work, hopefully. 

The metal door opened into another corridor, which - to her relief - led to the vault door. It was harder than she’d expected to look at it - it had been a little under two weeks since she’d left the vault now, what with travelling across the wasteland and getting attacked by the occasional group of raiders. To her surprise, it didn’t need a password, simply opening at the push of a button. 

“Dad?” she called hopefully, but the initial area was empty. The surrounding area turned out to also be empty, but she found herself greeted with the sight of a robo-brain just inside the next room. 

“Welcome to Vault 1-1-2, Resident! According to our sensors, you have arrived 202.3 years behind schedule. Please redress in your Vault-Tec issued Vault suit before proceeding,” the robo-brain said. 

“Oh- I- I’m not-” Katherine started, only for the robo-brain to hold out a suit to her. “Uh… thanks.” She took the suit gingerly. The robo-brain spun around politely, although she was pretty sure it couldn’t see her anyway. Feeling self-conscious, she pried off her pipboy and leather jacket, slipping out of her clothes and putting the vault suit on. After a moment of thought, she put the jacket back on and neatly folded the rest of her clothes into a pile. The smell of the cologne seeped into the jacket was beginning to fade. She couldn’t tell if it was a good or bad thing.

“Please proceed down the stairs to the main floor so that you may enter the Tranquility Lounger,” the robo-brain barked. Placing the pile of clothing into her bag, she went down the stairs as asked. She hadn’t expected a robo-brain - her vault certainly hadn’t had any. Her vault hadn’t had any Tranquility Loungers either, though. 

There were several of the loungers in the main room, but the majority of them were tinted so that she couldn’t see inside of them. There didn’t seem to be anybody around, either. She examined the nearest open lounger. The design was odd, to say the least: a screen was positioned above the seat, and there were all kinds of wires hooked up to the seat. 

If her father could be in one of the pods, she had to take the chance. 

Katherine clambered into the seat, having set her bag and weapon down just outside it. She wriggled in the seat, trying to get comfortable, then jumped when something clamped over her arms. They looked like shackles, of a sort. As she tried to free her arms, she felt something else clamp over her head. Struggling was futile, she quickly realised, as she could barely move. She watched as the screen above her lowered until it was directly in front of her face, and then her vision blurred and went dark. 

When she awoke, the sky was above her, although it was clearer and bluer than she’d ever seen it. She was laying in what appeared to be a field of grass, but after sitting up she saw that she was sat in a playground, in a village of sorts - it looked like a pre-war village she’d seen in magazines. 

“Are you alright, dearie?” someone asked her, and she turned to see a woman peering down at her. 

“I… I think so,” she said. The high pitch of her voice surprised her - she sounded like a child. 

“You had quite a spell, fainting in the grass like that! You know, I’m always saying to my Timmy that he should keep off that playground, especially around...” the woman lowered her voice, glancing behind her. “Still! You seem alright now.”

“Sorry, you… know me?” Katherine went to rub her eyes, stopping when she saw her hands in front of her. She didn’t just sound like a child - she _was_ a child, somehow. 

“Of course, dear! Everyone knows everyone in this neighbourhood. Why, I remember when your mother was pregnant with you!”

“My mother?” Katherine jumped up. “Sorry, ma’am, I don’t mean to be rude, but could you tell me where she is? And… where we are?”

The woman peered at her. “Oh, dear. Perhaps you hit your head harder than I’d thought. This is Tranquility Lane - only the best neighbourhood in America! Your mother would be in your front garden, I imagine. Look, there she is!” the woman pointed at one of the houses, then waved. Katherine craned her neck to see where she was pointing, but there was nobody there. 

“Oh,” Katherine said, visibly disappointed. “Of course. This must be a simulation. It can’t show my mother, because I don’t know my mother.”

“Sim what now? One of those silly games Timmy plays?” the woman nodded her head. “Children and their make-believe nowadays. Run along now, hmm? I think Betty is waiting for you.” She smiled at her and walked away. With her gone, a new figure was visible - a little girl sat on the swings, previously hidden behind the woman - Pat Neusbaum, she found herself thinking, although she didn’t know how she knew that. Something to do with the simulation, most likely. 

“Betty?” she asked. The girl on the swing turned her head to look at her, and broke out into a wide smile. 

“Finally. I was beginning to get bored,” Betty said, jumping off the swing. 

“Mrs Neusbaum said that you were looking for me?” Katherine didn’t like the look in the girl’s expression, something almost sinister. “Have you seen my dad?”

“What’s he like?” Betty dusted off her dress. 

“He’s an older guy, fifty or so? He’s got to be here. In the vault, I mean. I think he was looking for Doctor Braun?”

“ _That’s_ your daddy?” Betty looked delighted. “Oh, we are going to have _so_ much fun. This is going to be the best game ever!”

“Right,” Katherine said. Instinctively she went to check her pipboy, only to find that she now had a watch on her arm instead. “Sorry, what game?”

“It’s really simple.” Betty grinned at her. “You just have to make Timmy Neusbaum cry.”

“What? I’m not doing that!” Katherine protested. “Why would I want to make a kid cry?”

“Because it’s the game, silly!” Betty’s eyes had a definite glint of something in them. Katherine just couldn’t place what. “If you win the game, I’ll tell you where your daddy is!”

Katherine hesitated. She’d never liked bullies - she’d seen the aftermath more than enough times, Amata crying on her shoulder or her dad fixing up one of the kids who’d gotten punched. But did it count if the people weren’t real? _Were_ they real? She glanced around at the people nearby. Pat Neusbaum had seemed real enough, but then her “mother” had appeared real to her and not Katherine. 

“This is a simulation,” Katherine said, after a pause. “What does it matter if I make a kid cry?”

“It’s reality to them,” Betty said.

“But not to you?” 

“They don’t know any different. I do.”

“You’re a child.”

“So are you.”

“I’m not, though. Only in-” Katherine faltered, and Betty gave her a knowing look. “Oh.”

“Quite right, oh. Best to do as I say, hmm?” Betty - or whoever Betty really was - laughed. “Make it interesting, will you?”

Katherine didn’t reply, walking away from the girl. She thought over her options. If she didn’t follow the instructions, there was no telling how long she’d be stuck in “Tranquility Lane”, perhaps while her father was getting further away outside. On the other hand, she trusted Betty about as far as she could throw her, and Betty could easily turn around and have her be running pointless tasks for the rest of her life. 

A low whine next to her made her turn to see a dog watching her. 

“Hey, boy,” she said softly, extending a hand out to pet him. He bowed his head, and she patted his head gently. “You know, I always wanted a dog.”

The dog - Doc, she found herself correcting - whined again. 

“I shouldn’t give in to bullies to help myself,” she said, and sighed. “Looks like I’m stuck here til I figure things out, huh?” 

Doc placed a paw on her foot. 

“Thanks, boy.” She gave him another pat on the head, then looked around at the other residents around. She had to ask around, to try and get some information that could help her somehow. If “Betty” knew it was a simulation, chances were at least one other person would as well. At least, she was hoping so. 

She’d just started walking over to them when an elderly lady - she already knew her as Old Lady Dithers - pushed through them, towards her. 

“You… You don’t belong here!” Mrs. Dithers grabbed her shoulders. “It’s not real, none of it!”

“You know it’s a simulation?” Katherine asked her, trying to steady herself. She let go of her shoulders and looked at her, shocked. 

“You know it’s imaginary, too? Then you must help us! He keeps us here as playthings, nobody else realises. You have to help us. He’s out of control.” 

“How? How can I help you?”

“There’s a failsafe… in the abandoned house. He’s trying to tell you it’s your house. It’s not. It’s been abandoned for years. It’ll be hidden in there. Use it and end this nightmare!” Mrs. Dithers pleaded. 

“A failsafe? But… you’ll die, won’t you? I’d be killing you all?” Katherine bit her lip. 

“We’re already dead, under his power. It’s the only way to set us free. We’re imprisoned here.”

Katherine looked back at the other residents. 

“I’ll do everything I can to help you,” she told the elderly woman. “I’m so sorry it’s come to this.”

“Thank you… thank you! Now please… you must hurry. There’s no telling what he’ll do if he catches on.” Mrs. Dithers patted her head and walked past her, stroking Doc instead. Katherine glanced back at Betty, who was swinging once more. With newfound determination, she walked to the abandoned house and entered. 

Despite the windows, it was dark inside, and it took her a moment for her eyes to adjust to the gloom. Examining the windows, she realised that she couldn’t see outside of them - probably a tactic to keep the residents from investigating, most likely. The room itself was trashed, various pieces of junk scattered around the room and chairs overturned. _It’ll be hidden_ , she reminded herself. _But hidden where?_

The radio was playing from the centre of the room, making it hard to think. As she turned it off, it played a single note under her hand, lighting up green. 

“What the…” she said to herself, trailing off as she remembered that she was trying to be discreet. She touched the radio again; it played the same note, but the green light went off. A third touch brought the green light back on. 

_It’s a puzzle, of sorts._ She turned to look at the other objects in the room. The likeliest scenario was that she’d have to press them in a specific order and hope that she worked it out before “Betty” caught on. She pressed her hand to the shelf the radio was on. 

Nothing happened. _So not everything is included. That helps, a little._

She touched a pitcher sitting in front of the radio, which, too, lit up green, playing a different note. She moved across to touch a cinder block, only for the two green lights to turn off. 

After several attempts, she’d managed a pattern of six - radio, pitcher, gnome, pitcher, cinder block, gnome - and was working on discovering the seventh object, since nothing had happened with the six she’d already done. Her head felt all muddled from mentally resetting each time she’d messed up. She touched the gnome for what must’ve been the fourteenth time and looked around the room to assess her options. She’d already tried pressing the six lit up again, to no avail. The chairs and shelving didn’t seem to have any impact on the lights, either. 

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a bottle, knocked onto the floor. She hadn’t tried the bottle yet - she wasn’t even sure it was one of the options. _Still, it wouldn't hurt to try._

She touched the bottle. 

Light flooded the room, and for a moment she was blinded, throwing her hands up to cover her eyes. When it dimmed, she found herself back in the vault, next to the loungers, no sight of any of the residents. To her relief, she was back to normal too: no longer stuck as a child. 

“That was it?” she said, unsure if anyone could hear her. There was a terminal nearby the lounger. Upon investigation, it was locked, but it took her only a moment to crack it. 

“Katherine!” A voice called, and she turned away from the screen to see Amata racing down the steps, Butch close behind her. Amata barrelled into her, pulling her into a hug. “Thank God you’re alright! We were so scared we wouldn’t find you in time!”

“Amata?” Katherine breathed in her scent, suddenly aware of just how much she’d missed her best friend and hugging her back just as tightly. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh, I’m here too, y’know,” Butch said, and Katherine peered over Amata’s shoulder to see him folding his arms. 

“What, you want a hug too?” she joked. To her surprise, Butch enveloped the two of them in a hug. Katherine flushed red, and Amata chuckled. 

“Didn’t think I’d pass up the opportunity to see my new best friend again, didya?” Butch grinned at her, Amata wriggling out of his grip so that Butch could hug Katherine properly. He gave her a squeeze - she took the opportunity to smell his cologne and her heart panged for a second time - and stepped back. “I’m digging the look. Jacket suits you, Katherine.” He flashed her another smile and her cheeks burned. 

“But how did you-“ 

Amata answered her before she even finished asking the question. “We left the vault after you, silly! Couldn’t just leave my best friend out in the wasteland to fend for herself!” 

“But how’d you know I was here?” Katherine tucked a strand of hair from her face. She could feel a headache coming on. 

“Same way you knew your dad had come, obviously! We spoke to that radio host, and he sent us to Rivet City, and then we went to that memorial and that directed us here!” Amata looked pleased with herself. “And you’re still here, luckily for us!”

“What about my dad? Where is he?”

Amata shrugged. “I guess he moved on from here. Probably figured out the code like you.”

Katherine’s heart sank. 

“Oh,” she said. 

“Hey, no worries though. We found you, and that’s what matters, huh?” Butch threw his arm around her. “How about we head outta this dingy old vault?”

She didn’t move, just looked at them sadly. 

“You called me Katherine,” she said finally, pushing Butch’s arm from around her. 

“So?” Butch looked puzzled, and Amata gave her a strange look. “That’s your name.”

“How did you know that I had to figure out a code, Amata?” she asked, although there was no real question to it. She already knew the answer. 

Amata gave her a blank look. “What do you mean?”

“You said that I figured out a code. And you - both of you - called me Katherine. Easy enough to overlook,” she said sadly, “but the real Butch and Amata wouldn’t know that I changed my name to Katherine. They wouldn’t know about the code, either. Honestly, without that slip-up, it would’ve taken me longer to notice.” 

As she spoke, she walked slowly closer to the terminal. 

“Rooting around in my head was clever,” she continued. “When your mother trick failed - because I have no memory of my mother - I didn’t expect you to try and use my actual memories. I never activated the failsafe, did I?”

Amata’s expression changed into a frown.

“Very clever,” she snapped, but her voice was no longer Amata’s - it was deeper, masculine, catching Katherine off-guard as she’d expected Betty’s voice again. The room changed around her, shifting back into the original room she’d seen. Butch vanished, and Amata warped back into Betty. “But I’ve not come this far to have my work ruined by an insolent teenager!” 

“You can’t control me! Not like your residents!” Katherine shot, her back now against the terminal. “That’s what the issue is, right? That’s why Mrs. Dithers needed me.”

“Old Lady Dithers is insane!” Betty spat. 

“I won’t let you hurt anyone else.” Katherine ignored the response. “It’s over, Dr. Braun.” 

She spun around to the terminal and slammed the enter key, entering the command to end the failsafe - for real that time. 

“No!” Betty - or Dr. Braun - shouted, and the house shook. Katherine ran past him to the door, slamming it shut behind her, to see a horde of Chinese soldiers running down the street, shooting at the residents. Where the playground was now stood a huge door, as though it had been phased in. 

She started running to it, trying to block out the bodies in the street. Mrs. Dithers was slumped against the swings, staring up at the sky but not seeing, and Katherine paused, mere metres away from the door. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, leaning down to close the old woman’s eyes. Wherever she was, Katherine hoped she’d found peace. 

The door was in front of her now. Mustering her strength, she walked through it, leaving the remains of Tranquility Lane behind her. 

She awoke with a start to the tranquility pod powering down, finding that the shackles on her arms had fallen away, nothing connected to her anymore. Her hands flew to her face and she breathed a sigh of relief, finding that she was still back to normal. Clambering out of the pod, she gathered her things back into her arms - she’d never been so thankful to see her pipboy - and looked around the area, to see her father easing himself out of another tranquility pod. 

“Dad!” She immediately dropped the things she’d just picked up and threw herself in his direction.

“Therese?” He looked stunned, then ran towards her, gathering her into his arms. “Oh, my baby. You’re really here. You saved me.” 

She buried her face into his chest, hugging him as tightly as she could. 

“What are you doing here?” James gently unhooked her, leaning her back to look at her properly. He cupped her face with one hand, smoothing her cheek with his thumb. “You were meant to stay in the vault, not come out after me. Don’t you know how dangerous it is out here?” His voice had a stern note to it. 

“Dad… They killed Jonas.” Katherine’s voice broke. “The overseer had him killed, and then they came for me. Amata helped me escape because they would’ve killed me too.” 

“Jonas is dead?” James’ voice softened.

“How could you just leave me behind like that?” Katherine felt the anger she’d been fighting down for the past two weeks flare up inside her. “You knew how strict the overseer was, and you didn’t even tell me you were leaving!”

“Honey, I never thought-” 

“You left me!” Her eyes burned, threatening to spill tears. “I could’ve died not knowing where you’d gone!”

“I thought I was protecting you,” James pulled her close again. “I’m so sorry, honey. I never thought the overseer would go as far as to kill anyone.”

Katherine struggled away from him, furiously wiping her eyes. “And you lied to me my whole life! Did you _ever_ tell me the truth?”

James looked at her sadly. 

“I never lied about your mother. I never would.” He was quiet for a moment. “Sweetheart, I swear, everything I did was for your protection. I never wanted to lie to you, but it was safer for you to think you grew up in the vault. After your mother… After I lost her, I did everything in my power to keep you safe. That included going to Vault 101. The overseer let me in only because I was a doctor - his wife was pregnant, you see, and they’d lost their only doctor a while back. The overseer didn’t want the children of the vault to know it had ever been opened, which meant that everyone was told to act as though we had always been there. It acted as a fresh start for me, too - to try and forget about Project Purity, and focus on raising you. I couldn’t tell you the truth, and I’m sorry.”

“Dr. Li said that Mom died because nobody had expected complications,” Katherine said quietly. 

“She’s right.” James sighed, not meeting her eyes. “We’d all been so caught up in the project, your mother included. We… None of us saw it coming. I tried so hard to save her, but… there was nothing I could do. It’s my biggest regret, and every day I wish she could’ve been here to see you grow up. She would’ve been so proud of you. You were her greatest joy.”

“I wish she was here,” she murmured. 

“Me too, honey.”

They were quiet for a moment. Katherine silently picked up her things from the floor again.

“If you wanted to keep me safe, why’d you leave?” she asked finally. “You said you wanted to forget about the project.”

“I wanted to forget, but I couldn’t,” he corrected her. “The older you got, the more I thought about it. It was your mother’s dream. I… I don’t want her to have died for nothing, Therese.”

“I understand,” Katherine said, although she didn’t quite meet his eyes. “She was your soulmate.”

James looked down at his pipboy. “Yes.”

“How did you know it was her?”

“I always knew,” he admitted, “even before we started using nicknames for one another. Truthfully, I hadn’t thought about my soulmark in a long time - I’d been more focused on various projects. I fell for her soon after I met her, and it was months after we’d started dating that I remembered soulmarks, and sure enough her nickname for me was on my wrist. I wouldn’t have cared if it hadn’t been her. She was the love of my life, and nothing would’ve changed that. We married, and after some time she told me about her dream. Remember that quote that hung in my office? Revelation 21:6-”

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely,” Katherine finished. James’ eyes lit up.

“Yes, that’s the one. That was her dream, to have clean water for everyone, like those in vaults. That’s what Project Purity became, a plan to turn the Jefferson Memorial into a huge water purifier. I would’ve done anything to help her achieve her aspirations. She led the project with me, but it was difficult. Then we found out she was pregnant, and it just the both of us more determined than ever to finish the project. To make a better world for you, most of all. That’s what she wanted.” He looked distant, as though recalling the memories. “I abandoned it when I lost her, to raise you, but I couldn’t forget it. I have to finish the project. For Catherine.” 

He removed his pipboy from his arm, pulling the sleeve back to show Katherine his soulmate: one word, a simple “Doc”.

“The dog in the simulation,” Katherine realised. “That was you, wasn’t it?”

“Chosen simply to spite me,” he said. “This mark serves as a constant reminder of her. He made it my name so that I’d be forced to hear it over and over, to punish me for not playing along with him.” He shivered. 

“He tried to use her against me.” Katherine held her own wrist subconsciously. “But it didn’t work. He got into my head, but didn’t see that I had no memory of her to use.”

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” James slipped his pipboy back on, and then rifled through his coat, producing a photo from one of the pockets. “Here. I wasn’t able to take much from the vault, but I couldn’t leave this behind. It’s a photo of your mother and I, from when she was pregnant with you.”

Katherine took the photo he held out to her and studied it. She recognised her father instantly, looking younger and happier than she’d ever seen him. Her eyes panned to the woman next to him. She was dark-skinned, with bright eyes and frizzy hair. She looked radiant, hands cradling a small baby bump. Even in a photo, it was obvious the two of them were head over heels for one another. 

“She looks… happy,” she mumbled. 

“She was happy,” James said gently. “She was ready to give the world to you. She had so much love for you, before you were even born.”

Katherine swallowed hard. “I wish she was still here.”

“So do I, honey. I miss her more every day.”

Katherine stared at it for a moment longer before reluctantly tearing her eyes away and pocketing it in her jacket pocket. James suddenly frowned, noticing her clothing for the first time.

“Is that a Tunnel Snakes jacket?” 

“It’s a long story,” she said. 

“I thought you hated that silly gang? I seem to recall you having a particular distaste for Butch,” James pointed out. 

“A _very_ long story.” Katherine pulled her jacket closer to her defensively. “I can think the gang is stupid and still wear the jacket.”

“Hmm.” James raised an eyebrow. 

“I saved Butch’s mom from radroaches and he gave me his jacket,” she went on. “It’s comfortable.”

“That’s my girl.” James’ expression turned fond. “Always looking out for other people. Just like your mother.” 

“We should get out of here.” Katherine checked her bag. “I don’t really want to keep hanging around here.” 

“You’re right. We need to get back to Rivet City, anyway. I need to speak to Dr. Li.” James started striding back the way Katherine had entered. 

“Let’s go, then.” 

* * *

They were halfway to Megaton when both of their pipboys crackled into life.

_“-out there-... -Therese-... -help-...”_

James continued walking. 

“Dad, wait.” Katherine fiddled with her pipboy, tuning in to the broadcast. 

“ _This is an automated distress message from Vault-Tec: Vault 101. Message begins: It feels like you left home a long time ago, but I know you're still out there. I just hope you're still alive to hear this. Things got worse after you left. My father's gone mad with power. Therese, if you can hear this, please come help us. I changed the password to my name. Hopefully you remember it.”_

“The vault’s in trouble.” Katherine looked up, seeing James continuing to walk away. “Hey, where are you going?”

James turned around, shooting her a confused look. “Rivet City, remember?”

“But… we need to help them.” 

“What we need is to get to Rivet City and get back to work on Project Purity.”

“They need help!” Katherine argued. 

“They tried to kill you, Therese!” James shot back. “They killed Jonas. I’d sooner fight a deathclaw than help that vault out again.” 

He turned and went back to walking. Katherine stared at him, both shocked and angry. 

“You can turn your back on them. I won’t.” She set a new location on her map, pinpointing Vault 101 to have a path to follow. 

“Therese-” James started, but Katherine cut him off. 

“I’m going to Vault 101,” she said curtly. James sighed. 

“Fine. I’ll see you at Rivet City,” he said, and walked briskly past her. Katherine watched him walk off, fuming, and turned to start her own walk back to the place she’d once called home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things finally begin to pick up! As usual, comments and kudos are appreciated: do you think we can get to 30 kudos before the next chapter? :) I'd love to know what you think of this chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

The walk to the vault was a lonely one. Katherine hadn’t realised just how much she’d missed being able to talk to people properly until she’d reunited with her father, so walking alone again felt strange, despite that she’d only been travelling with him for a few hours. Her anger at his refusal to help out wasn’t helping her, either. 

She’d spent a lot of time being angry as of late, she noted as she walked through Springvale. Unease settled in her stomach. She’d always been quick to anger, but when she’d lived in the vault she’d learnt to internalise it and process things rationally, rarely acting on her feelings. In the wasteland, her feelings seemed to control her more than she controlled them. 

She thought about the vault, trying to distract herself. Truthfully, she was nervous about going back - it had only been two weeks since they wanted her dead. Maybe they still wanted her dead and it was a trap to punish her for escaping. Maybe they wanted information on where her father had gone and wanted to hunt him down. Most of all, though, she was nervous about seeing Butch again. The simulation had messed with her head (and, if she was being entirely honest, her heart) and she found herself thinking about him more than ever. At least previously, she had been sure that she would never see him again, so hadn’t seen the point in indulging any wistful thoughts. Now that she was facing the reality of seeing him again, she kept thinking about him. If she was headed back to the vault, then maybe, just maybe, the soulmark wasn’t unrequited. Did she even _want_ Butch as a soulmate though? Sure, she’d noticed he was handsome as they grew older, but she’d never looked at him with anything other than disgust. Him calling her his best friend had completely thrown her for a loop. He probably didn’t remember it. The most likely scenario was that Butch would pretend it had never happened anyway - he hadn’t expected to see her ever again, and he had just been relieved that his mother was safe. Forget wondering about his soulmark, _her_ soulmark wasn’t even right. 

There was no universe where she and Butch could be soulmates.

She found herself outside the wooden door concealing the vault entrance without even noticing that she’d left Springvale. She was suddenly much more aware of how nervous she was. She examined herself briefly - she hadn’t been able to change back into her clothes in front of her father, so she was still wearing the vault 112 suit, with her jacket over it. She was carrying a bag of things she’d collected, including Moira’s “repellent stick”. Her gun was holstered at her waist. A moment of consideration led her to unequip her gun, placing it carefully in her bag. She didn’t want to take any risks with the vault’s security. Better not to appear as a threat. 

She pushed the wooden door open. She’d forgotten just how dark it was past the door, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the gloom as she walked slowly up to the vault door. Had that skeleton always been there? She couldn’t be sure. She hadn’t exactly done much sight-seeing last time, running through the vault door as security fired at her. They’d only stopped when she’d gone through the wooden door into the wasteland. 

_You’re overreacting,_ she told herself. _Two weeks isn’t long enough for a body to turn to just bones, even out here._

The vault door loomed up ahead of her. She stared up at the big “101” painted onto it. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she had been a resident; she felt like she’d aged at least a few years. 

Taking a deep breath, she typed “Amata” into the control panel and hit open. It was quiet, and for a moment she thought that she’d typed the password wrong, but then the door groaned into life and slowly opened, sirens whining within it. She braced herself, ready for security to be pointing their guns at her, but there was no one there. 

It was eerily quiet once the sirens stopped. She crept forward, half expecting a bullet to fly at her any second. Things seemed mostly the same as the last time she had been there, with the exception of a sign in front of the vault door expressing that it was forbidden to open the door without the overseer’s permission. Probably put up after she left, to discourage anyone else trying to follow her idea. 

Then she spotted the body. 

A young man, dressed in a vault suit, lay crumpled on the ground by the door controls. He looked familiar, although she didn’t know his name. 

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, bending down to investigate him further. She wasn’t as medically talented as her father, but she could determine that he’d been dead for a few days, but no longer. It looked like he had died from gunshot wounds. She shivered, standing up again and pulling her jacket closer to her. Her own mortality seemed to hang in the air above her. If they’d killed some of their own residents even _after_ she’d left, what was to stop them just shooting her on sight? 

Unwilling to let herself be psyched out, she took a deep breath and quietly opened the door ahead of her, only to immediately jump when it revealed a security guard behind it.

“Hold it right there!” the guard shouted, and she threw her hands above her, dropping her bag. 

“Don’t shoot!” she pleaded. The guard looked startled, and then lowered his gun, his expression softening. 

“It’s you! I didn’t recognise you for a second, Therese,” he said, and recognition dawned on her face.

“Officer Gomez?” she lowered her hands, carefully picking up her bag again. 

“Guess that explains how you got that door open. You've got more experience with it than most everyone down here combined. What are you doing back here? I thought you’d be gone for good, after your dad.”

“I…” She wavered. Since he’d asked, she could assume that he didn’t know that Amata had sent out a message for help, and she knew better than to drop Amata in it. On the other hand, Officer Gomez _had_ helped her escape when she’d left the vault, proving him to be trustworthy. 

He seemed to sense her hesitation. “Better not to tell me. This isn’t the vault you grew up in anymore. Things are different now, a lot nastier. To tell you the truth, I should report you to the Overseer. But I've been getting mighty forgetful in my old age, you know? We've got more than enough trouble without me adding to it.” He winked at her as he said the last part. 

“What happened here?” Katherine looked back at the body behind her. 

“Let me bring you up to speed. It feels like it's been a mighty long time, to be honest with you. Far longer than just two weeks.” He sighed. “We lost a lot of people the night you and your dad left. With the door open, bugs started attacking, and people started going crazy. When the smoke cleared, there were a lot of casualties and not many answers. Didn’t help that we’d just lost our doctors.” His tone sounded resentful. 

“Jonas was meant to stay as the doctor, with my help, I think,” Katherine said quietly. “I’m really sorry. The Overseer made things far worse than they would’ve been.”

“To tell the truth, I don't really blame your dad for all that. I don't know why he left, but I do know he'd never intend for all that to happen.” Officer Gomez glanced over his shoulder. “A lot of folks started thinking he had the right idea. He usually did. So if it was safe out there, why stay down here forever? Well, the Overseer didn't like that one bit, and started cracking down on that sort of thought. Guess he didn't plan on you coming back. I don’t know why you’re here, Therese, but it might be worth turning away from all this. I can close the vault door, pretend you were never here.”

“I can’t turn my back on everyone,” she replied. Officer Gomez looked relieved. “And, uh, I go by Katherine now. Do you think you could take me to Amata? I understand if you can’t. I wouldn’t want you to put yourself in harm’s way for me.”

“Yeah, I can take you as far as the clinic. That’s where Amata and the rest of the rebels are holed up.” 

He started striding back down the corridor. Katherine followed close behind him, checking the surroundings as they walked. 

You know, she was one of the first people to talk about life outside the vault after you left. No surprise; she always did like you, Katherine,” Officer Gomez told her as they made their way to the vault’s atrium. “I hope you can talk some sense into her... or maybe the two of you can come up with some other plan? You just need to be careful.” 

“Amata’s safety is my priority,” Katherine assured him, secretly touched that he’d actually listened to her. 

“Wish we had more people ‘round here who considered safety.” He was quiet for a moment. “You know, I’m surprised you’re still wearing a vault suit, even if you are wearing that silly jacket on top of it.”

“Oh, uh, it’s not my vault suit,” she said, and then realising how it sounded, continued, “I mean, not the suit for this vault. This is a suit from vault 87. I had to put it on to find my dad.”

“Vault 87? What, they just let you in?” He sounded interested. 

“Well… yes, and no. I got in fine, but all the staff were robots. All of the residents were stuck in a simulation with an overseer who had gone mad with power, from what I could tell. I’m pretty sure it was an experiment of some form.” She frowned, remembering the simulation. “My dad was stuck in it. The overseer tried to trap me too, I think, but he slipped up and I shut it down.”

“What happened to the residents? And the overseer?”

Katherine paused.

“They… died,” she said delicately. “They’d been trapped for decades. The simulation was the only thing keeping them alive.”

“It must have been a hard choice, figuring out whether to let them die or keep them trapped,” Officer Gomez said eventually, his tone gentle. 

“It was.” Katherine was surprised by his understanding. Her father hadn’t even asked about her experience in the simulation, now that she thought about it. 

“Still, better to die than live as prisoners,” he continued. 

“Yes, I suppose.” 

They fell into uncomfortable silence. Katherine could only guess that Officer Gomez was thinking about his own situation in the vault. 

She was about to ask how Freddie was when he stopped.

“Stay behind me. This doesn’t look good.” 

Obediently, Katherine let him go ahead, staying behind him to access the situation as they reached the open door to the atrium. She could see another security guard stood behind what looked like two overturned tables. As she got closer, still staying behind the officer, she could make out what the other guard was saying.

“-can’t do that, Freddie! Now get back down below before I have to do something we’ll both regret!” 

_Freddie?_ Her heart lurched. True enough, Freddie Gomez was stood at the other side of the atrium. 

“What? You gonna lock me up like you did to Brotch?” Freddie taunted. “You can’t cage a tunnel snake, man, because we rule!”

“Stay back!” The officer - she was pretty sure it was Officer Taylor, but she wasn’t certain - shouted. When Freddie didn’t move, he fired a shot at him, just missing Freddie and hitting the wall instead. Freddie turned and fled, and Officer Gomez ran into the room, Katherine right behind him.

“Taylor! Put your weapon away!” Officer Gomez demanded. 

“I didn’t mean to shoot, really I didn’t!” Officer Taylor gabbled. “I just wanted to scare him off! But he had a knife! I can’t be too careful with those rebels!”

“You almost hit him!” Katherine cried. He peered past Officer Gomez and at her. 

“You! Don’t you know enough to stay away?” He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at his forehead. 

“Easy, Taylor. She’s trying to help with the rebel problem,” Officer Gomez explained. 

“Anything you can tell me about the rebels will help,” Katherine added. Her heart was still beating fast from the gun being shot. 

“I tell you, I'm scared of them. I never know when they're going to try something dangerous! It’s your fault they’re even behaving like this, you know!” 

“I-” she started, but he cut her off. 

“My poor wife Agnes is gone because of you and your father. In all the chaos and fighting, her old ticker just couldn't take it anymore.”

“I really am sorry for your loss.” Katherine dropped her gaze to the floor. “I promise, I’m trying to help. I don’t want any more deaths.”

“Hmph.” He tucked his handkerchief back into his pocket. “Since you’re with Gomez, I won’t report you. Best you stay away from me.”

“Yes, sir.” She bowed her head as he shuffled away. Officer Gomez shook his head.

“This is the kind of thing I was talking about.”

“Freddie joined the tunnel snakes?” Katherine asked him softly. 

“Nearly gave my wife a heart attack herself when she found out. Stressed me out, too. I don’t think he even really recognises the danger he puts himself in, he just likes the approval he gets from the other two.” He looked back over at her and frowned. “Though I’m surprised you’re apparently part of it. Last I remember you hated those boys.”

“I’m not part of it, not really.” Katherine felt her cheeks grow warm. “Butch gave me his jacket when I left for saving his mom. It’s kept me warm out in the wasteland.”

“Ah.” Officer Gomez didn’t look convinced.

“Wait, did you say the other _two_?” She suddenly looked up at him again. 

“Yeah, I did. From what I’ve heard, our Freddie’s replaced Wally Mack. Apparently him and Butch had a falling out. Didn’t really surprise me - Wally’s picked the side of his dad and brother, and they’ve very much fallen in with the overseer. His brother’s a particularly nasty one. Enjoys punishing people a bit too much, if you ask me.” His frown deepened. Katherine once again thought about the body by the vault controls. 

“I don’t want to get you in any trouble, Officer Gomez. I can head to the clinic myself from here. You should check up on Freddie.” 

He looked gratefully at her. “You’re sure? You’ve just seen for yourself how dangerous it can be.”

“I’m sure. I can look after myself.”

“Yes, I’m sure you can, now.” He looked distant, almost sad, for a moment. “I still remember when you turned ten. Who could have guessed how you'd grow up?” 

“Definitely not me.” She sighed softly. “I’ll be fine, Officer. Honestly.”

“You take care, Katherine.” Officer Gomez gave her a small salute before hurrying after his son. 

Katherine took the opportunity to look around the atrium before she went on. The overturned tables were clearly meant to act as defences of some sort, and she wondered just how bad things had become in the vault. Above her, the sign that usually read “THANK YOU, OVERSEER” had been replaced with “FUCK YOU, OVERSEER”. She noted that whoever had done it had sprayed the word “you” over the “you” that was already on that sign. It was almost certainly Butch’s handiwork, and she smiled to herself, imagining him leaning over the barriers to graffiti as his own rebellion against the overseer. 

Her smile faded as she thought about Freddie. They’d been friends once, back when things had been normal. He had been another favourite victim of the tunnel snakes when they were younger, which had brought them together, but as they got older they’d grown apart, Freddie seemingly not wanting to be associated with the tunnel snakes’ other targets. It was a shame, really - it had been nice having a friend outside of Amata, and he’d been there when she’d struggled with her feelings for Amata initially. She’d never even considered that he might join his bullies, not really. At the least it sounded as though they were all alive. _Poor Grandma Taylor._

The vault was in a worse state than she’d imagined. It seemed every corner she turned, there was more flipped furniture and broken windows. She half-wished that she’d let Officer Gomez continue to escort her - several of the vault’s residents she’d walked past had side-eyed her without saying a word. She knew most of them blamed her for the state of the vault. Pepper Gomez had used to treat her like the daughter she never had just for being friendly with Freddie, but she wouldn’t even spare a glance in her direction now, deliberately turning away when Katherine had come close to her. It couldn’t be more obvious that she was unwelcome. 

She rounded another corner, noting what appeared to be _another_ set of makeshift barricades, and walked straight into someone who apparently had tried to round the corner at the same time.

“Oof!”

“Hey! Watch it!”

“Sorry, I-”

“Therese?” 

Katherine stopped rubbing her head and stared at who it was she’d bumped into. “Butch?”

“What the hell are you doing here?” He looked just as surprised as she assumed she did. Her heart sank a little.

“It’s nice to see you too.” She folded her arms, which proved difficult when carrying her bag. 

“C’mon, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s dangerous here, Tess,” he said, and she froze, not used to Amata’s nickname for her coming out of his mouth. 

“I go by Katherine now,” she said shortly. 

“Like, after your mom?” He scrunched up his nose. “It’s a nice name, I guess.”

“How did you remember my mom’s name?” She was even more confused now. The Butch _she_ remembered barely acknowledged she existed if he wasn’t outright bullying her. Surely she couldn’t _still_ be stuck in the simulation? She looked at him closely. He seemed real enough, giving her a funny look. 

“I practically lived in your dad’s clinic, remember? He’d talk about her sometimes to his assistant. Figured he talked about her enough it must be your mom.” Butch waved a hand in front of her face. “Are you listening? You look a million miles away.”

“Sorry, I just… didn’t expect you to pay attention, I guess,” she said weakly. Butch snorted.

“Thanks a lot. Anyway, I asked you a question, _Katherine_.” He emphasised her name, tilting his head to the side. “Hmm. How about Kathy? Katherine’s a bit of a mouthful.”

Katherine looked at him again, bewildered.

“Sorry, are you _real_?” she asked him, not altogether convinced that he Butch at all. 

“What, you go crazy out there? ‘Course I’m real!” He peered at her. “Hey, you’re wearing my jacket!”

“I- you’re bombarding me! What am I meant to reply to first?” she spluttered. “I’m not used to you even talking to me!”

Butch frowned, scuffing his shoe against the floor. “Sorry. I guess. I didn’t expect to see you again, y’know? And it’s dangerous here for you.”

“Amata sent out a distress call asking for my help.” 

“She did?” It was Butch’s turn to look confused. “She didn’t tell me.”

“Why would she tell you? You’re not exactly friends.” Katherine was beginning to relax again, but her heart was still thudding in her chest. She’d expected - or maybe hoped - that Butch would pretend that their last interaction never happened, and that they’d go back to ignoring each other. It would’ve been easier that way. Then she could convince herself that they clearly weren’t soulmates and that would’ve been the end of it. 

“Things have changed since you left, you know.” Butch looked offended. “We’re kinda friends now. Friendly enough that I would’ve thought she’d told me if she sent a message for you.”

“Maybe she didn’t want to put you in danger if the message was intercepted? It’s about her dad, after all. She said he’s gone mad.”

“She got that right.” Butch snorted again.

“As for your other questions, I’m here to try and help things, yes I was listening, no I didn’t go crazy out in the wasteland, and the jury's out on ‘Kathy’. What was with calling me Tess? You never shortened my name, only made up stupid nicknames.”

“You still hung up on ‘Nosebleed’?” he asked, and she stiffened, but he went on, “That was a long time ago, man! I stopped calling you that years ago. Besides, we’re friends, ain’t we? I said so when you were leaving. Amata used to call you Tess, why couldn’t I?”

“I didn’t think you’d actually consider me a friend,” she said awkwardly. She could feel her cheeks heating up. “I, uh, assumed it was spur of the moment. Since I helped your mom and all.”

“I gave you my jacket, Kathy! You think I’d just give that baby away?” He looked affronted, then winked at her. “Suits you, by the way.”

“You have a new one!” she protested, hoping that he wasn’t noticing her cheeks burning. “Besides, how would I know whether or not you regretted it? For all I knew you just felt bad for me.”

He leaned in towards her, so that his face was inches away from hers. “I’d never regret it.”

Katherine swallowed hard. “Well. Good to know. So, uh… friends? We’re friends?”

“Yeah, man! Of course we’re friends!” Butch ruffled her hair, then looked closer at it. “Your hair’s grown more than I would’ve thought.”

“Spoken like a true barber,” she joked, her heart racing. He was _very_ close to her.

“Who am I to deny my destiny?” he shot back with a grin. “Hey, you want a haircut at all, just let me know.”

 _Had he always been so… charming?_ she wondered. Although out of sight, she could almost swear that she could _feel_ her nickname on her wrist. 

“I need to speak to Amata,” she blurted out. “I’d love to catch up afterwards, but I really need to know the situation going on here.”

“Yeah, sure.” Was it just her, or did Butch look disappointed? “I can take you to the clinic. That’s where we normally hole up.”

“Thanks, Butch.” She gave him a smile, and realised that for the first time in a while it was a genuine smile. 

“Hey, no problem! I can be your bodyguard.” He mimicked shooting a gun with his hand. “The Butchman’s got your back, baby.”

It was going to be a longer trip to the clinic than she’d thought. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the chapter delay, life has been hectic recently! I've decided to split the vault chapter into two separate chapters as to not keep you all keeping longer, but I'd love to know your thoughts on this first half :)  
> We made the goal of 30 kudos! Think we can make it to 40 by next chapter?  
> Also I commissioned my good friend [Miles](https://twitter.com/artsysqueak) to do [this art of Butch and Katherine](https://twitter.com/artsysqueak/status/1257101158167896064)! Definitely give him a follow on twitter if you can, his art is beautiful <3


	8. Chapter 8

True to his word, Butch stuck to Katherine’s side while they walked to the clinic, his arm brushing against hers ever now and then, although he’d never admit whether it was deliberate or not. For the most part, he kept his gaze straight, but he couldn’t resist sneaking a look at her as they walked. She looked different, somehow, despite it only having been a couple of weeks. It was as though she’d aged months in the time she’d been gone, more weary than he’d ever seen her. He was relieved to see that she was relatively unharmed, aside from a few scratches here and there. He wondered if he looked any different to her. 

“You know, I’m surprised you came back at all, even with Amata asking for you,” he admitted after a few moments of quiet. She glanced at him and his eyes darted away from her, trying to pretend that he hadn’t been looking. 

She cleared her throat. “Why wouldn’t I? I care about the people in the vault.”

 _People in the vault._ Which people, exactly? The doctor had left the vault, and his assistant had been killed. There was always Amata, but Amata was just one person. Unless maybe she didn’t want to make things obvious about Amata…? He wrinkled his nose, then realised she was still waiting for a response. 

“You always were a goody-two-shoes, you know?” Butch said instead. 

“I was there when you needed help. You didn’t seem to complain then.” Her tone was light, almost teasing. 

“You would’ve helped her if you knew she was in danger regardless,” he pointed out. 

“Yeah, I guess I would’ve,” she mused. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, only to see her already looking at him. Their eyes met for a second and he turned his head, embarrassed to be caught. 

He coughed awkwardly before changing the topic. “Thanks anyway. For helping my mom, I mean. I’m sure she’d thank you herself, but we’re not on speaking terms at the moment, so…” His voice trailed off. 

“Really?” He could hear the surprise in her voice. It was no secret that his mom hadn’t been the most caring parent, nor how he’d always jump to her defence. He remembered an instance when they were maybe nine years old, where Katherine had witnessed him lunging at Jonas for insinuating that his mom was an alcoholic, and how Dr. Albert had had to pull him off of him. He’d threatened to punch her if she told anyone what Jonas had said, and to her credit, she’d stayed silent. She’d just left the clinic and he hadn’t seen her until their next classes together, and they’d both avoided each other. 

“Yeah, uh… She’s very firmly on the Overseer’s side.” He felt his face fall, but quickly pinned a smile back onto his face. “She, well, she blames you and your dad for… Pretty much everything, actually.” He clenched his fists.

“I’m so sorry, Butch,” Katherine said softly. To his surprise, she reached out and placed her palm gently over one of his fists. 

“Nothing to be sorry for,” he grunted, but allowed his fingers to relax beneath hers. “She’s wrong. The Overseer’s crazy, that’s not your fault. She’d be dead if it wasn’t for you. She won’t listen, though. I got sick of arguing with her eventually.”

“I wouldn’t blame you for blaming me. I know most of the other residents do.” He watched as she lowered her gaze to the floor. 

“I don’t care, I _don’t_ blame you.” 

“But if my dad hadn’t left-” 

“Will you stop?” Butch pulled his hand free and whipped around, grabbing her firmly by her shoulders and forcing the two of them to a standstill. Her eyes widened in surprise, and for a moment neither of them said anything, her back pressed against the wall and him holding her there. He, too, was surprised - he’d expected her to push him off of her immediately. They just stood there, as if frozen in place, and she just stared at him. 

“None of this is your fault, man,” Butch said eventually. “The Overseer is _nuts_. He had your dad’s assistant killed, remember? He would’ve killed you too. He’d rather kill his own residents than let anyone else get out of this shithole.”

“But-” she started, but he cut her off. 

“No, listen to me. I know you have no reason to believe me, but just actually listen to what I’m saying for a moment. Security has been gunning down anyone who gets anywhere close to the door. Brotch got lucky when he was locked up.” He paused, seeing that she was still staring at him. “Paulie was shot, just for being with the rebellion. He didn’t even do nothing! Fucking Wally’s asshole brother shot him. Paulie’s lucky to even be alive. We got no doctor ‘cause of that fucker ruling over the vault. None of this happened ‘cause of you or your dad. It happened because the Overseer is an _asshole_.”

She was still staring at him. Had her eyes always been grey? He’d just assumed they were blue, but up close he could see that they were actually a pale grey. A strand of her hair slowly fell loose onto her face, and he found himself overwhelmed with the urge to brush it from her face. 

He was suddenly aware that his grip on her shoulders had tightened. He released her, sheepish, and feigned extreme interest in his jacket pockets. 

“I believe you,” she said after a moment.

“Huh?” Confused, he looked back at her. 

“You said I have no reason to believe you, but I do.” She tucked the strand of hair behind her ear and shrugged her jacket closer to her. “Friends, remember?”

“Yeah.” Butch ran a hand through his hair. _Just friends._ “Friends. I guess that’s a reason.”

“Of course it’s a reason! What, you’ve never had friends before?” She looked at him incredulously, and he pulled a face. “Oh, come on, Butch. I remember your cronies.” 

Butch snorted, thinking of his so-called ‘gang’. Wally had run straight to kiss the overseer’s boots, even before the security guards had started threatening people. Paulie had described it as the vault door barely closing before he’d turned on them. As for Paulie, he wasn’t even sure he could count them as friends - he’d been spending all his time with the other rebels, although mostly with Freddie, who’d jumped at the chance to replace Wally. Sure, he wasn’t so bad - truthfully, he’d felt a little bad about bullying the guy for so long - but Freddie got on better with Paulie than he did with him. Now that he thought about it, he’d been spending most of his time with Amata than with the tunnel snakes, and he wasn’t sure he could even call that a friendship, not with her so busy with the rebels. 

“You and I have different experiences of friendship,” he finally responded, and she winced. 

“Sorry.”

Butch elbowed her. “Will you quit apologising all the time? You’re driving me crazy..”

She opened her mouth to protest and closed it again. 

“Come on. We’re close to the clinic.” He stepped in before she could apologise again, lightly tugging her jacket to lead her onward. He was fairly certain that she didn’t need him to keep guiding her - they were only a corridor away from the clinic, and he was sure her memory served her well enough - but he was happy to keep accompanying her. He was still trying to process seeing her again in person. After she’d left, and once he and Amata got talking, they’d told so many stories of her that it had been easy for her to blend into a figure to talk about rather than someone they’d actually known. He’d wondered if, in another world, the two of them could’ve been friends, had he not tormented her when they were kids. Amata’s stories about their friendship had left him dwelling on what could’ve been, had only he not been such an asshole. He’d never expected to see her again. Truthfully, he was afraid that she _had_ died in the wasteland, despite what he’d said to Amata. For her to show up after all, showing herself to be alive, but most of all _able to survive_ … he wasn’t sure how he felt. He wanted so badly to make up for their past, and he also wanted her as a friend, but he knew deep down he was afraid, too. Yes, she’d agreed that they were friends now, but it was one thing to agree and another to actually consider him a friend. She always had been too nice to the people around her. She easily could’ve just been being nice to him, ready to ditch him at the first opportunity. There was another part of him, too, that couldn’t quite believe he even wanted to consider her as a friend in the first place. They’d been rivals for as long as he could remember. Then again, what if she was having the same thoughts? What if she was only pretending to be sympathetic towards him and being friendly in order to get back at him for everything? Would she do something like that? 

“Butch?” Her voice interrupted his thoughts and he came to a standstill, shaking his head. 

“Huh?”

“We’re at the clinic. You almost walked straight past it.” 

“Oh.” Was he _disappointed_? “Sorry.”

“Now who’s apologising?” she teased, and he could’ve sworn his heart skipped a beat. Seriously, what was wrong with him? He felt warmer all of a sudden too. 

“Amata’s inside,” he managed to get out, nodding in the direction of the clinic doors. “I’ll keep watch out here. Give, uh, you and Amata some time to… catch up.”

“Thanks.” She patted his shoulder and took a deep breath. He gave her an encouraging thumbs up and watched as she disappeared through the doors. Idly he wondered how Amata would react to seeing her best friend and ex-girlfriend again. Was Katherine her ex-girlfriend? He supposed they’d never formally broken up, what with her rapid exit of the vault. Though would _that_ count as a break-up? A small part of him hoped it did, so that he wouldn’t be their third wheel. Guilty, he silently scolded himself for hoping. It was none of his business anyway. 

But… if they _had_ broken up, where did that leave things? He assumed they would be amicable, but would they stay friends? Would they still want anything to do with him? Did they want anything to do with him anyway? Maybe Amata would replace him with Katherine now that she had her back. He’d certainly deserve it, he thought glumly. And Amata would deserve to have her girlfriend back. It was clear what she saw in Katherine, after all.

He stood up straight, realising he’d been slouching against the clinic entrance. It wasn’t any of his business, he reminded himself. They had more pressing matters at hand. 

Not ten minutes later Katherine emerged from the clinic, surprising him. 

“That was fast,” he said. Katherine shrugged. 

“Didn’t take that long to explain the situation, I guess,” she replied. He supposed that made sense; Amata would want the situation dealt with before she spent any time with Katherine. 

“Fair enough. What did she say?”

“She wants me to talk down the Overseer, make him see reason.” 

“Are you going to?” 

“I guess.” She shot him a look of confusion. “Why?”

“Wasn’t sure if you might want revenge. For your dad’s assistant.”

“What I want doesn’t matter.” She let out a small sigh. “Besides, I could never do that to the vault.”

 _To Amata,_ Butch corrected mentally. 

“Forget the vault. What do _you_ want? Honestly, between you and me,” he pressed. She looked at him for a few seconds, as if trying to determine his intentions. 

“I just want a peaceful resolution to this,” she said after a moment. 

“You know, I’ve been thinking about other options.”

“Like what?” She furrowed her brow. 

“We could sabotage the water supply, force the vault to open. That would show the Overseer and his guards.” Butch spoke fast, wanting to explain it all before she could judge it. “That way everyone leaves, gets a fresh start. No more fighting between ourselves.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Butch,” she said gently, after a short pause. 

“Why not? You survived, you could be our example,” he protested, feeling his heart sink. 

“Butch… It’s a different world up there. Just because I’ve survived so far doesn’t mean the entire vault would survive if forced to leave it. I’m lucky to be alive at all. A month from now, I could be dead. There’s no certainty - I’ve seen people more experienced than me die.” 

He could see in her face how much she’d experienced while out of the vault. It was more than weary - it was almost exhaustion. He could make out the faint bags under her eyes. 

“We’re dying down here, too,” he said, but he could tell he’d lost the debate already. He had no experience out of the vault. He couldn’t even imagine the sights she’d seen. 

“Trust me on this one.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t think you want that option either, not really. If you want to leave the vault, I understand. But you don’t want to force people out. Nobody wants to be forced out.” 

There was a degree of sadness in her eyes, and he nodded slowly, giving up on the idea of it. She was right. He knew he was just angry at the Overseer and security. 

“So… you’re going to just talk to the Overseer?” he asked her. 

“I’m going to try.” Katherine let go of him.

“Let me come with you,” he said - maybe offered, maybe pleaded, he wasn’t too sure himself - and she nodded. 

“Don’t go thinking I forgive him,” she said, and Butch could _hear_ how cold her tone turned. “If he wasn’t Amata’s father, I would shoot him myself, no hesitation.”

The wasteland had changed her, after all. 

* * *

They were halfway to the Overseer’s office when they had the unfortunate luck of coming across Wally Mack himself. 

“Oh boy, are you in trouble,” Wally said gleefully, making a beeline for the two of them. Instinctively, Butch stepped forward, separating him from Katherine. 

“What do you want?” Butch asked him coldly. 

“Just wondering what _she_ thinks she’s doing, walking around like she owns the place,” Wally responded innocently. 

“It’s none of your business.” Katherine folded her arms. 

“I’d watch the attitude, sweetheart. You’re not meant to be here, so they’d be none the wiser if I handed you in tomorrow instead of today.” He bared his teeth at her in a wolfish grin. “Though knowing you, you’d probably be a better lay _after_ I put a bullet in your brain.”

“Back off, Wally,” Butch snapped, his hand going to his switchblade in his pocket. Wally laughed. 

“What, already staked your claim? I knew you were desperate, but that’s worse than that pathetic gang of yours, Butch.” 

“I said back off,” he growled, almost head to head with Wally. He felt Katherine grab the back of his jacket, pulling him back away from him. 

“Frankly, Wally, I have more important shit to deal with than your stupid attempts at scaring me,” Katherine said calmly.

“You _should_ be scared, bitch!” Wally spat at her boots, the spittle landing just inches from the toes. 

“Well, I’m not. You ever go head to head with a super mutant, Wally? How about a group of raiders? You expect me to consider one vault dweller who can barely hold his own gun a threat?”

Wally spluttered. “You think you’re so cocky, just because you’ve been outside of the vault!” 

He pulled his gun from his hip, and at the same second Katherine pulled hers from her bag. Katherine’s gun made Wally’s small pistol look pathetic in comparison. Butch watched as Wally visibly shrank as Katherine held it steadily in his direction. 

“Don’t be stupid,” she said coolly. “We all know who would be the faster shot.” 

Wally glowered at her. “At least I know what it’s like to have a hero for a dad, instead of some deadbeat coward.”

Butch flew at him before either of them had time to react, his fist colliding with Wally’s nose. Wally groaned in pain, dropping his pistol as his hands flew to his face, and Butch kicked him, hard, knocking him down. 

“Leave him, Butch.” Katherine pulled him away as he went to kick him again. She’d already put her gun away. “He’s not worth it.”

“You piece of shit,” Wally snarled at Butch, his voice nasally. “I’ll fucking get you for this. You wait ‘til Stevie hears.”

“Yeah, yeah, run to your big brother,” Butch mocked, although he backed off, standing back with Katherine.

“Never knew you were into traitors, Butch.” Wally held his nose, which looked as though it was bleeding. “Don’t come crawling to me when she doesn’t fuck you.”

“Oh, fuck off.” Butch shot him a look of pure disgust, wrapping an arm around Katherine to lead her away. As soon as they were out of Wally’s sight, he dropped his arm and exhaled loudly. 

“Are you alright?” Katherine asked him, looking up at him with concern clear in her eyes. 

“I fucking hate that family.” Butch ran his hand through his hair.

“What happened between you? You used to be… friendly,” she said delicately. 

“He started deep-throating the Overseer’s boats, that’s what.” Butch scoffed. “The bodies were barely cold before he’d taken his side. Joined his shithead brother and father, obviously.”

“Susie was with the rebels. How come she didn’t join her brothers?” 

“Probably ‘cause Susie isn’t a piece of shit.”

She huffed in response. “Was I really just that insufferable?”

“What do you mean?” 

“You picked on me, Wally and Paul picked on me, Susie picked on me, even Freddie started picking on me. Was I that bad? Be honest.” 

She was smiling, but it was clear it was forced - it didn’t reach her eyes. Butch’s stomach did a guilty flip. “Freddie only picked on you ‘cause he wanted to run with us. And… Wally and Paulie only picked on you ‘cause I picked on you.” He paused, waiting to see if she would react. “I can’t speak for Susie, but if I had to guess it would be because she’s Wally’s sister and because she has a thing for me.”

“You know Susie’s into you?” she sounded shocked. He shrugged, awkward.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s been pretty obvious for a while.”

“And you haven’t asked her out?”

“No?” 

“Why not?” 

“Susie’s not really my type,” he said casually, although he found himself still watching out of the corner of his eye to see how she reacted. 

“Huh,” she said slowly. He couldn’t place her tone - still surprised, perhaps, but something else too? 

“Besides,” he added, “imagine having Wally and Stevie for brothers-in-law.”

She laughed, and he smiled at her, despite himself. He’d never heard her laugh before, not really. 

“And Officer Mack as your father-in-law,” she snorted. “No wonder she’s with the rebels, then. She’s probably dying to get away from them.”

“Wouldn’t you?” Butch grinned, and she snorted again, shaking her head lightly. 

“Come on. We better get to the Overseer’s office before we get the entirety of security on our asses.”

* * *

The closer they got to the Overseer’s office, the more nervous Butch was feeling. It wasn’t that he didn’t think Katherine could handle herself - if anything, she was far more able to defend them than he was, he wasn’t above admitting that - but he trusted the Overseer about as far as he could throw him. The chances of it being a fair fight, if it came to a fight, were slim. 

“You okay, Butch?” Katherine asked. She sounded genuinely concerned, making his heart skip another beat. He supposed he wasn’t used to her treating him kindly. Or anyone, for that matter.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He smiled at her, hoping to assure her. They were nearing the security rooms. He wondered if maybe she was as nervous as him, just better at hiding it. “I think they’re holding Brotch near here, actually.”

“Really?” She studied the door up ahead of them. “Do you know where?”

“Yeah, uh, they’ve got holding cells before the office. You need a password for the terminal to open the cells, though.”

“I’m sure I can find a way around the password.” She stopped, looking past him. He followed her gaze to see the Overseer stood at his window, looking directly at them. No, Butch corrected himself, at _her_. 

He felt uneasy all of a sudden. “He knows you’re on your way to him.”

“Then let’s get a move on.” If she was scared, she didn’t let on, walking straight up to the security door and pushing it open. 

“Katherine-” Butch started, making sure to be as close behind her as he could, just in case. 

“How do you feel about Kath?” she interrupted, slipping behind one of the servers in the room they’d just entered. 

“Huh?” He blinked, following her behind a second server. 

“You know, as a way of shortening Katherine. Kathy sounds… I dunno, I mean, it’s fine, but I think I prefer Kath.”

He thought about it. “Yeah, I like Kath. Suits you.”

She beamed at him. As she crept to the next server, his eyes flicked to the faded snake logo on her back. He found himself admiring how well his jacket complimented her. Maybe it had been the confidence in her tone; he’d never really heard her talk properly, given how rarely they’d actually _talk_ to each other. It was always scathing comments or shouting. 

“Looks like the coast is clear for now.” Katherine straightened up. Butch reluctantly tore his gaze away from her.

“Brotch should be in the room around the corner,” he told her. She nodded in response and the two of them snuck up to the door to the security room. They slipped inside, Butch making sure that the door closed behind them. The door to the cell was closed, as he’d expected. 

“Keep an eye on the door for me, Butch?” Katherine asked him, leaning in to the terminal sitting on the desk. He nodded - although she couldn’t see it - and stood with his back to the door frame, stuffing his hand back into his pocket so that he could grip his switchblade. He found his eyes wandering back to her, arched in front of the terminal. As stupid as it sounded, he’d never taken the time to _look_ at her. She’d always just been plain old Nosebleed, a daddy’s girl and goody-goody. It was no surprise Amata had fallen for her - she was surprisingly pretty, he noted, now that he was studying her. She’d been taller than most of the other kids when they were younger, and gangly. It hadn’t helped that she’d been both awkward and shy, making her a prime target for bullying, he remembered, feeling a pang of guilt. Still, she’d grown into her body. She still wore her hair in a bun, as she had done for the past couple of years. They’d dubbed it ‘the sophisticate’, and made fun of her for ‘trying to be fancy’. He could tell her hair had grown longer, but he wished he could tell just how much longer. He wondered what she looked like with her hair done.

“Aaaand done.” Katherine hit a key, and a loud click was heard. 

“What did you do?” Butch glanced at the door they’d walked through before walking towards her.

“Hacked it,” she said proudly. 

“Since when can you hack terminals?” He had to admit, he was impressed. 

“You think I’d just flaunt a skill like this?” She raised an eyebrow at him, but her eyes were shining. “There’s lots of things you don’t know about me.”

She pressed the door open, revealing Mr. Brotch sat at the back of the room. He looked up at them in surprise and got to his feet. 

“Well, I’ll be. Mr. DeLoria and Miss Albert. I must admit, I’m surprised to see you both, albeit for different reasons.” 

“Are you alright, Mr. Brotch?” Katherine rushed to the older man, holding out her arm for support. 

“I’m fine, don’t you go worrying yourself.” He dusted himself off, politely declining her help. “It’s certainly been a while, kid. I guess the G.O.A.T couldn’t have predicted how you’d turn out, huh?”

“I’m still pretty sure you fixed those results, Mr. Brotch.” Katherine smiled at him. 

“I’d never!” Mr. Brotch looked affronted. “Mind you, it seems you’d be wasting your talents as a pip-boy programmer. Remind me to add a question about rescuing your teacher from the vault jail if everything goes back to normal…”

“You got a _pip-boy programmer_?” Butch demanded. 

“Almost marriage counsellor,” Mr. Brotch added. He could’ve sworn that he was smirking. 

“It doesn’t matter anyway.” Katherine walked back over to the terminal. “What job I could’ve had in the vault will hardly help me now.”

The three of them froze as distant voices were heard from beyond the door. 

Mr. Brotch’s expression turned grave. “Miss Albert - you should be careful. They won’t hesitate to shoot you where you stand.”

“I need to speak to the Overseer,” Katherine said. There was determination in her voice, but Butch saw a flicker of fear appear on her face.

“I’ll distract the guards,” he said quickly, stepping ahead of her. “I’ll stop them coming this way, buy you some time to speak to the Overseer.”

“What if they shoot at you too?” she protested. “I won’t put you in danger on my behalf.”

“Kath, this whole vault needs your help. If they shoot you, the rest of us are fucked.” His tone was serious. “Brotch- Sorry, _Mr._ Brotch- you should stay in this room until we let you know it’s safe.”

“That’s… very responsible of you, Mr. DeLoria.” Mr. Brotch sounded taken aback. 

“I’ll hold them near the servers. Go, quick!” Butch ran through the door, praying that Katherine would take his advice and not try to play the hero. He spotted the guards the second he rounded the corner: Officer Wilkins and Stevie Mack, much to his chagrin. Stevie was bad enough - he was sure by now that Wally would have complained to him, leaving him as one of the man’s prime targets - but Officer Wilkins had lost both of his children when Dr. Albert had left, and thus resented both Dr. Albert and Katherine. If he thought Katherine was around, it was extremely likely he would go after her. 

Straining his ears, Butch heard the door behind him open and close quietly, and silently breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Is everything alright, officers?” he asked nonchalantly. Stevie scowled at him. 

“What are you doing skulking around up here, DeLoria?” he snapped. 

“What, a man can’t walk around his own home?” Butch shot back. Officer Wilkins narrowed his eyes. 

“Listen here. We’ve been alerted to the presence of that traitor doctor’s brat by the Overseer. If you’ve seen her at all, you’d better let us know.”

“Who, Nosebleed?” Butch paused, considering his options. He could outright deny having seen her, but if Wally had already ratted him out to Stevie then they’d know he was lying. He _could_ tell them that she’d gone somewhere else, but given that the Overseer had called them, they were unlikely to believe him. “Yeah, I’ve seen her. I convinced her to try and bust Brotch out, then locked her in there with him.”

“How’d you lock her in?” Officer Wilkins didn’t look convinced. “It was already locked.”

“I let her hack into the terminal first, to unlock the cell. When she rushed in to help him, I used the terminal she’d unlocked to lock her in with him,” he lied. “She’s armed, though. I wasn’t able to get her weapons off her, so she’s got them locked in with her. I’d come up with a game plan before rushing in there.” 

“Wally told me you helped her out earlier.” Stevie took a step towards him, gripping his security baton tighter. “You expect me to believe you helped her, only to lock her up?”

“No, I helped Wally. She would’ve shot him far faster than he would’ve shot her. I punched him to knock him down, convincing her he wasn’t a threat anymore. I had to pretend to help her in order to make sure she could be taken down properly. You know Wally as well as I do, officers - he’s no good with a gun.” 

They both still looked suspicious. He hoped Katherine was in the process of dealing with the Overseer. 

“Brotch is still contained then?” Officer Wilkins asked. Butch noticed his hand had been on his holster as he slowly moved his hand away. 

“Yes, the two of them are locked in.”

“And there’s no way they can break out?”

“No. The terminal is inaccessible from the cell, so she can’t hack it again.”

“Hmm.” Officer Wilkins frowned. “I should put her down where she stands.”

“Officer, she has weapons from the wasteland. They looked more powerful than the weapons we have in the vault,” Butch said quickly. What was taking her so long? Had the Overseer shot her when she’d walked into his office? He hadn’t heard a gunshot, but who knew what weapons the Overseer had stored away. She could be bleeding out on the floor as they spoke. 

“Why would you help the Overseer?” Stevie asked him, squinting at him. “We know it was you defacing the signs.”

“C’mon, fellas. Just because I like a little rebellion doesn’t mean I’m actually with the rebels.” He knew it was a weak response as soon as the words left his mouth. Stevie narrowed his eyes further. 

“You’re lying.”

“What? Why would I-” Butch protested, only for them both to shove past him and stride around the corner. Butch spun around and darted after them, only to see the Overseer stood at the end of the corridor, Katherine by his side.

“Stand down, men,” the Overseer said calmly. 

“You!” Officer Wilkins’ hand flew to his pistol. Butch instinctively dived for him, knocking the man to the floor and wrestling his gun away from him. 

“I said stand down!” the Overseer barked, and Officer Wilkins threw Butch off of him, furious. 

“Sir! She betrayed the vault, you can’t just let her walk away!” 

“Are you disobeying me?” 

“I-” Officer Wilkins faltered. “No, sir.”

“Good.” The Overseer continued to walk up to them, Katherine trailing behind him. “Disregard all your previous orders before this. We are cooperating with the rebels, and I am placing my daughter in charge of the vault, effective immediately.”

“But-” Stevie started.

“No, no buts. Amata Almodovar is your overseer from now on. You will refer to her for further instruction. If you’ll accompany me, gentlemen, I am off to inform her now.” 

The two security officers looked at each other before putting their weapons away, Officer Wilkins picking his pistol up from the floor. He scowled at Katherine as the Overseer walked past them before following behind him along with Stevie. 

“Are you okay?” Katherine bent down next to where Butch was lying on the floor.

“Yeah,” he groaned, rubbing his sides. Officer Wilkins had given him a hell of a strike to his side when he’d pushed him away. 

“You didn’t have to do that for me, you know,” she said softly, holding out her hand to help him up. He took it gratefully. Her hands were softer than he’d expected, and for a moment after she pulled him up her hand seemed to linger on his. 

Almost as soon as he noticed, she pulled her hand away. 

“He would’ve shot you,” he said. 

“But you risked getting shot yourself. What if he’d fired?”

“It was you he wanted, not me.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. It almost felt like routine at that point. 

“I know people here hate me, but I didn’t realise they hated me that much,” she said glumly. 

“It’s not really your fault. He lost his family when you escaped. He blames it on you and your dad.”

“Jim and Janice died?” she asked quietly, looking stricken. For a moment, he regretted telling her, but she would’ve learnt eventually. 

“We lost a lot of people that day,” he explained, softening his voice. “He just blames you because it’s easier to have someone to blame.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She didn’t look particularly comforted. He supposed he didn’t blame her; he couldn’t imagine being the scapegoat for the vault’s problems.

“So… Amata as overseer, huh?” He tactfully changed the subject. “How did that come about?”

“I convinced him that he was out of touch.” She looked grateful for the change. “When I left the first time, I talked him into giving me the password to avoid further injuries, and defended Amata. I think he remembered that this time, particularly when I told him I just wanted to talk things out and had no intention of killing him. I… I think he was aware of my situation with Amata, too, which might have helped the case.” 

“You think he knows?” He couldn’t imagine the Overseer (while he knew he wasn’t the Overseer anymore, officially speaking, it was hard to refer to him by anything else) being on board with his only child dating anyone, let alone someone the vault had deemed a traitor. “Where does that leave you and Amata?”

“Truthfully?” She sighed again. “I think it was over the moment I left. We didn’t exactly talk about it, but she made it clear that the priority was to deal with her father. And, I don’t know, it just feels like everything has changed now.”

She was biting her lip. It seemed as though she’d gone to say something else, only to stop herself. He considered extending his hand back out to her. Would that be weird? He didn’t want to come across as _too_ friendly and make things awkward between them, or scare her off. 

“We should go let Mr. Brotch know that it’s safe to leave,” Katherine said, interrupting his thought process. “And then I need to go speak to Amata about her new position.”

“Once you’ve done that, meet me outside your room. We’ll have celebratory drinks, you and me,” he blurted out. It was nice having her attention to himself, and he wasn’t quite ready to go back to sharing her with Amata.

She blinked at him, then smiled. “Only if you’re supplying the drinks.”

“Deal.”

* * *

It had been half an hour since Katherine had gone to speak to Amata, and she still hadn’t shown up. He’d gone into her room and poured them both a glass of nuka-cola and whiskey, sneaking a couple of glasses from the diner. He had her door propped open so that he could see when she’d arrive, but the longer she took, the more concerned he grew. Maybe she wasn’t coming after all. She could be patching things up with Amata, he thought with disappointment. Neither of them would probably want anything to do with him now that they were reunited. Not that he could blame them; he’d been an asshole to both of them for years. 

He frowned to himself. Had he actually thought that they’d want to be friends with him after everything he’d done? Amata would’ve just been lonely with Katherine gone, and Katherine? She’d probably just felt sorry for him. 

He slouched into his seat, staring at the two glasses on the table in front of him. He shouldn’t care whether or not they liked him, but he couldn’t help himself. He’d never had a real friend before. Having someone actually seem to be concerned about him, and seemingly enjoy his company, well… he’d liked it more than he’d let on. It had been nice to spend time with Amata and know that he wasn’t the only one feeling lonely in the vault, but with Katherine? He couldn’t put his finger on what it was, but it was so much easier to relax around her. She was funnier than he’d ever given her credit for. Maybe it was because she represented the outside world, the excitement and dangers beyond the vault, and maybe he was just projecting all of it onto her, but he found himself _liking_ being around her. 

After about another ten minutes, Katherine finally appeared in the doorway.

“Hey, if it isn’t my best gal!” he exclaimed, happy to see that she’d turned up after all. He raised one of the glasses. “Here, I’ve poured you a drink.” 

It was then that he noticed the look on her face, and jumped up out of his seat, discarding the glass back onto the table. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I have to leave.” Her voice was thick, and she wouldn’t make eye contact with him. 

“What? Why? What do you mean?” Forgetting his worries entirely, he walked right up to her, lifting her chin gently with his hand. Her lips were trembling.

"Amata said I have to leave again,” she said, blinking hard. “Because of the vault situation. The other residents don’t want me here, so I have to leave.”

“But you saved everyone! That’s bullshit!” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. 

“I need to pack my things, Butch.” She gently pushed past him.

“You’re just going to let them kick you out?” he demanded. “Kath, it’s a load of shit, and you know it!”

“What am I meant to do?” She whipped around, stood next to the chest of drawers. The teddy bear Amata had cradled just over a week before sat atop it, staring sightlessly in his direction. “Stay? They’ve made it clear I’m not welcome here. Either I leave now, and have the chance of possibly reconciling in the future, or I stay here, and probably get shot and killed by the residents that want me dead. There’s no point in fighting it, because she’s right. The situation here is too delicate. I was just kidding myself to think any otherwise - of course there’s no real chance. It was stupid of me to even get my hopes up.”

It didn’t sound as though she was still talking about the vault situation, but he was too angry to ask what she meant. She started silently packing her things into a suitcase he hadn’t noticed she was holding, and he lost all fire within him.

“Here, let me help you at least.” He came up behind her and started helping her pack her things away. 

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. He noticed her try to discreetly wipe her eyes, but said nothing. “I shouldn’t be snapping at you. You’ve only tried to help.”

“You don’t need to apologise,” he said pathetically. Maybe if he’d gone with her to talk to Amata, he could’ve spoken up on her behalf, could’ve challenged Amata and told her she was wrong. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do more to help.”

“Don’t be silly. You did more than enough.” 

She was still trying to comfort him, he realised with a pang. He should be the one comforting her. 

“I got this from my mother,” she said, changing the subject. He looked to see her picking up the teddy bear. “She’d bought it for me before I was born, and stitched a note into its foot. It’s one of the few possessions I have from her. I was distraught at not being able to take it with me the first time.”

She turned the bear upside down, showing him. Sure enough, the words ‘To Therese - Love, Mommy’ had been stitched on the pad of the foot. 

He noticed some other stitches on the bear and pointed to them. “What about those?”

“Ah… He had to be fixed up a couple of times,” she said. She wasn’t quite meeting his eyes again. 

He had a sudden memory resurface, of him taunting her during their first day of school. She’d brought a teddy bear to class and he’d mocked her, calling her a baby. When she’d tried to grab for it back, he’d clung to it, and eventually the bear had torn in two. She’d burst into tears, and he’d mocked her further, telling her to run home to her mommy and daddy. 

He remembered the look on her face as she told him she didn’t have a mommy. 

“Oh,” he said guiltily. “It was me, wasn’t it?”

“Well… Yes,” she admitted. “It’s okay, though. My dad repaired him for me.”

“I shouldn’t have been such an asshole in the first place.” He frowned. “It’s not okay, Kath. I was awful to you back then.”

“Yes, but that’s in the past, Butch. For what it’s worth, you’ve been a real friend to me today. I’ll always be grateful to you for that.”

She put the bear softly into her bag. 

“I… I guess I should be going.” She went to pick up her bag and the suitcase next to it, then paused, biting her lip. He’d never felt so helpless in his life, not even when his mom was being attacked by radroaches. At least then he’d known there had been someone he could ask for help. 

“I’ll miss you,” he said stupidly. He blinked hard, feeling the threat of tears prick his eyes,

“I’ll miss you too,” she said back, and pulled him into a tight hug. He paused, taken aback for a moment, before returning the hug just as tightly. They stood there for a few seconds, gripping each other, until he felt her grip loosen and reluctantly let go of her. 

“Thank you for everything, Butch,” she said softly, gathering her things. He nodded silently, unable to find the words for a response. He watched her take a final look around the room and then slowly trudge away. 

He collapsed into one of the chairs he’d originally set out for the two of them to sit on, staring at the glasses of nuka-whiskey.

He didn’t feel like drinking anymore. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i promise i haven't forgotten about this fic! it's likely that my updates will be slower than they'd originally been, but i'm determined to finish this one :) what do you think of this chapter? i think it's my longest one yet, and i had a lot of fun writing from butch's perspective again!  
> as always, kudos and comments are appreciated <3


	9. Chapter 9

Butch found himself marching towards the Overseer’s office, knowing Amata would be there instead of at the clinic. He didn’t really know what he hoped to achieve by confronting her. He supposed he just had to hear her explanation. She _had_ to have an explanation.

He slowed as he walked past where Brotch had been being kept prisoner. It was hard to believe that only a couple of hours ago he’d been there with Katherine. 

He clenched his teeth and hurried past it, rounding the corner to the Overseer’s office. 

“What the hell is your problem?” he snapped as he pushed open the door, causing Amata to jump. 

“Jesus, Butch, you scared me.” She sounded almost… sad. Her pipboy was off her wrist, sitting on the desk in front of her, Butch noticed, but he was too caught up in his temper to question it.

“Why the fuck did you make her leave?” he demanded, stopping right in front of her desk. He fought the urge to slam his fists onto the desk, instead keeping them clenched by his side. 

“Don’t,” Amata said, a warning tone in her voice. “Don’t you start on me.”

“I absolutely _will_ start on you! She just risked her neck to help us all, after _you_ called her back here, and then you kicked her out? Are you out of your mind? She’s your _friend_!” 

“She had to leave!” Amata shouted in response, catching him off guard. He’d almost expected her to say that it hadn’t been her choice, that it had been her father’s influence, or one of the security guards threatening her, or… well, anything but it actually being her choice. 

“What do you mean, she had to leave? She didn’t! She could’ve stayed, she could’ve helped us more!”

“Will you listen to me? She had to leave!” Amata looked downright miserable. “Of course I wanted her to stay. I loved her, Butch. But she couldn’t. Too many of the residents blame her and Dr. Albert for everything. My father might’ve put me in charge, but that doesn’t automatically mean that everyone supports me. They all need time to adjust, and if Katherine stayed, they wouldn’t - they’d still blame her, and they wouldn’t move on from it. Would you rather I tell her she can stay, and then be in an environment where everyone hates her? Worse still, where residents might attack her? I couldn’t do that to her. I had to tell her to leave.” 

Her voice had softened, and Butch felt his anger subside within him. 

“I did what an overseer has to - I protected my residents. _All_ of them. My personal feelings don’t matter.” 

“It’s not fair,” he said lamely. “She’s our hero, and nobody seems to even realise it.”

“Yeah, well, life isn’t fair.” Amata sighed. His eyes flicked back to the pipboy sat in front of her as silence fell between them. He wasn’t sure what to do with himself anymore. It made sense that she was upset, but he hadn’t actually seen so defeated before. Even when Katherine had to leave the first time, Amata had swung herself into leading the rebels, into taking charge, but now she was just… sad. 

“Butch, did Katherine say anything to you about your wrist?” Amata asked eventually. 

“My wrist?” He thought about it. “No, not that I can remember. Why?”

“Before she left, like right when she was in my doorway to leave, she stopped and turned back to me and asked to see my wrist, under the pipboy. I thought it was a really weird request, but she pleaded with me, so I took my pipboy off and rolled up my sleeve. And, well…” Amata rolled her sleeve up and held her wrist out towards him. Bold, black lettering spelt out _My Darling_. 

“She just smiled sadly at me and turned away again. When I asked her what it was she just said that I’d find out eventually,” Amata explained. “I just don’t understand. It’s not like anyone could have drawn it on - I barely ever take my pipboy off.” 

“Maybe everyone has one? I don’t get what ‘my darling’ would mean, though.” Butch looked at his own wrist with interest and eased his own pipboy off. Amata watched as he shrugged out of his jacket, leaving only the long sleeves of his vault suit covering his wrist. 

He was suddenly nervous, looking back at the words on Amata’s wrist. Was it a trick of some kind? There didn’t seem to be any reason for Amata to mess with him, but it was such an odd concept that he wasn’t sure. Seeing Amata looking at him expectantly, he pulled back his sleeve. 

To his surprise, the word _Loverboy_ stared back at him. 

“Yours looks different.” Amata peered over her desk to get a better look, and Butch held his wrist out for her to look at. “Loverboy?”

“I don’t know what it means,” he said. “How do we have words on our wrists? Does everyone have them? Why wouldn’t anyone have mentioned it before?” 

“Maybe it’s a thing from before the war?” Amata suggested. “It makes no sense that we’d all have words for no reason. I suppose if we all had them and nobody knew the meanings it would make sense not to mention them. Especially since they’re usually hidden by our pipboys.”

“Katherine knew, though. You said she said you’d know eventually, so people outside the vault must know, right?” Butch looked back down at his wrist, as if the answer would reveal itself beneath the word. “What was on her wrist?”

“She didn’t show me. Maybe she wanted me to wonder.”

“Why wouldn’t she mention it to me?” He was a little hurt that Katherine had shared this mystery with Amata but not him. He supposed she _was_ closer to Amata, but… it still stung, just a little. 

“I don’t know. Maybe she thought you wouldn’t listen.” 

Her words stung him even more. “I would’ve listened to her!”

“I know, but we’ve been spending time together. You only spent the day with her, right? Maybe she thought it would be too much to dump a mystery word on you before leaving.” 

“I suppose.” He tugged his sleeve back down and shoved his hand into the sleeve of his jacket. 

“The terminal has nothing on it either, before you ask,” Amata added.

“I wasn’t going to ask.” Butch readjusted his jacket and reached for his pipboy. They were once again quiet for a moment, Butch pretending to be interested in the pockets of his jacket, Amata looking back down at the phrase on her wrist. He wished Katherine hadn’t left. She could’ve explained it to them, if she’d only had the time. He would’ve listened to her, and he’d have made sure she knew that.

He wondered where Katherine was by now. He hoped she was safe, wherever she was. That she wasn’t lonely. 

“I’m leaving the vault,” he blurted out, surprising even himself.

“What?” Amata looked up, astounded. 

“I’m leaving,” he repeated. Saying it a second time enabled him to regain his confidence, and he added, “I’m going out to see the world out there. I don’t want to stay cooped up here anymore. It’s not like anyone wants me around, anyway.”

“I guess that’s fair.” Amata slowly pulled her sleeve back down to cover the phrase on her wrist. “For the record, I’ve liked your company, Butch. I won’t stop you from leaving if you really want to, though. I’m not exactly going to be great company from here on out, what with having to run the vault and all.” 

Butch nodded slowly. “Thanks, Amata.”

“Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll open the vault door for you. If you run into Katherine out there…” she seemed to hesitate. “Well, just look after her, will you? She can handle herself, but she’s got an awful habit of putting other people first.”

“Don’t you worry. If I find her, I’ll keep her out of trouble.”

She gave him a small smile. “I know you will.”

* * *

Little over half an hour later, he was all packed. He didn’t have many belongings to begin with - his leather jacket, some other clothes, his switchblade, his comb, some provisions, and, secretly, a few of his favourite holotapes he’d stolen years back. He’d dithered on whether or not he should say goodbye to his mom, but ultimately he’d decided it was better for both of them if he didn’t. 

He returned to Amata’s office - it seemed better to call it that than the Overseer’s office, even if Amata _was_ the new Overseer - and found her stood by her desk as promised.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Ready,” he confirmed. He was surprised to find that he wasn’t nervous. If anything, he was excited: there was so much to experience outside of the vault, and he could actually experience them. 

Amata leant over the terminal, and a few moments later he heard the door alarm wailing. Amata led him through a tunnel he’d never seen to the vault door, which was screeching open. 

“Secret tunnel, huh?” he joked, and Amata just shook her head, although he could see a small smile on her face. 

The two of them stood and watched as the giant door finally finished rolling back, exposing a small cavern of sorts with a shack door at the very end. 

“Well… this is it,” Butch said awkwardly. He wasn’t sure how he should act. Should he hug her goodbye? Shake her hand? Salute, maybe?

“Oh, come here,” Amata said, and pulled him into a hug. He gave her a gentle squeeze, and she let him go. “Good luck out there, jerk.”

“You too, princess.” He smiled at her, and he felt a pang in his heart. Even though they’d only become friends a short few weeks ago, he really would miss her. 

He took a deep breath and started walking towards the shack door, suitcase in hand. It felt odd, one small wooden door being the only thing standing between him and the unknown. 

_I wonder if Katherine felt the same when she left._

He’d just about reached the door when Amata called out to him.

“Butch?”

He looked back over his shoulder at her. “Yeah?”

“Take care of yourself out there.”

He gave her a smile and a thumbs up, and pushed the door open. 

It took him a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the blinding light. He could hear the vault door closing behind him, quieter now that he was away from it, as he shielded his eyes with one hand, squinting at the scene before him. 

He hadn’t expected the sunlight to feel so different from the light in the vault, as stupid as that sounded. It was only as he stood there now that he realised just how harsh the vault lighting had been, while the sunlight he was greeted with was soft and warm. 

Taking a few steps forward, he could see a sign labelling the area as the “scenic overlook”. That was one way of putting it. Below he could see what appeared to be the remains of several houses, presumably destroyed when the bombs dropped. There appeared to be a rusted water tower of sorts nearby, too. 

Looking back at the shack door, it was hard to believe that there was an entire vault hidden within the mountain, especially with the door being in such an obscure location. It was no wonder they’d been undisturbed for years - he imagined it was unlikely that many people bothered to explore the mountains. They certainly weren’t trying to see the scenic overlook. 

Off to the right, there seemed to be a trail of some sort, which in turn looked as though it led towards a road. He figured his best chance would be to follow the road until he found somewhere he could learn more about the wasteland, preferably a town of some sorts. He racked his brain to see if he could remember anywhere Katherine had mentioned, but he couldn’t think of anything. Come to think of it, she hadn’t talked about much outside the vault at all. And he hadn’t asked, like an idiot. 

_She probably thinks I’m a selfish asshole,_ he thought glumly. _Hopefully I can prove otherwise to her. That is, if I can catch up to her… there’s no telling how far she’s gotten since she left._

He’d just have to make his own way in the wasteland. 

* * *

He ended up stumbling upon a town named Megaton, although it hadn’t appeared much like a town at first sight. There’d been a robot barking out a greeting as he approached, and he’d spied a man in rags sat across from the gates. Inside, however, it was clear that it was indeed a town, with various buildings lining the walls. He couldn’t work out the structure that the town took, but who was he to question it? Maybe all the towns in the wasteland were like it. 

It dawned on him that he didn’t have much of a plan. He’d obviously hoped to catch up to Katherine, but he had no idea where she could be, and he didn’t have _that_ many provisions. 

He decided that he’d have to ask someone for help, as much as he hated to. He strode up to the first person he saw - a man wearing a cowboy hat - and was about to ask a question when the man nodded at him. 

“Another vault dweller, huh?” the man asked, and Butch blinked.

“How’d you know?”

“Kid, you’re wearing the exact same clothes as the last one we saw, jacket and all. You part of a gang or something?” He squinted at him, and Butch shifted uncomfortably. 

“Uh… Kinda. It was a gang of sorts when I was in the vault. Not so much out here.” He paused. “The other one? Did they happen to be a blonde girl, grey eyes, just shorter than me?”

“Katherine? She’s done us a world of favours since she turned up, mind you. Deactivated that bomb down there, fixed up a few of our pipes, even supplies our Walter with scrap metal to keep things in shape. Saved my life too, I’m not above admitting. More helpful than I’d ever expect a stranger to be, if I’m completely honest.”

“That’s… a lot,” Butch said, trying to take it all in at once. Sure, it was in-character for her to help, but… “Did you say she deactivated a _bomb_?” 

“Sure did. Saved us all from that threat, and then had my back when I tried to take someone trying to activate it into custody. All the first day she’d turned up, too. I wonder who we impressed for her to show up, y’know?” The man laughed. “Oh, where are my manners! The name’s Lucas Simms, mayor and sheriff. And you are?”

“Um, I’m Butch. Butch DeLoria,” Butch told him. 

“Well, Butch DeLoria, I hope you aren’t here to cause trouble. Our Katherine’s given us some high standards,” Simms said. Although he was still smiling, there was a trace of a warning in his words.

“Don’t you worry… Sir,” he added hastily. He’d never been good with figures of authority - he _hated_ being told what to do - but the sheriff seemed to be his best bet of catching up with Katherine. 

“Say, I’ll bet you don’t know about soulmarks either, since you came from that vault.” Simms sounded thoughtful. 

“What’s a soulmark?” That caught his interest. 

“I thought as much. Out here in the wasteland, when you turn eighteen you get a word or phrase on your wrist, and it’s whatever your soulmate first nicknames you. Here, have a look at mine.” He rolled back his sleeve to show Butch the word _cowboy_ on his wrist. “Mine was an inside joke between my wife and I - she’d call me cowboy due to the hat I wore. I don’t know how things worked in that vault of yours, but lots of people out here take it pretty seriously.”

“That’s the meaning of the word?” His soulmate would call him _Loverboy_? What’s more, he had a _soulmate_? He thought back to all the nicknames he’d been called previously. There weren’t too many instances - Amata calling him jerk, his mom calling him Butchie; that seemed to be it. Interestingly, he couldn’t remember Katherine ever giving him a nickname, and for a moment he wondered if maybe _she_ was his soulmate. He quickly dismissed the idea. As if Katherine would ever be interested in someone like him! Or, for that matter, he would ever be interested in someone like her!

“Yeah, kid. You got a word then?”

“I only found it earlier, I didn’t know what it meant. They’ve never mentioned them in the vault,” he said slowly. “Mine says ‘loverboy’.” 

“Well, that’s interesting. I figured vault dwellers just didn’t get words, going off Katherine.” Simms gave a small sigh. “Poor girl.”

“What do you mean?” He looked back at Simms, confused. 

“She didn’t know about soulmarks either when she first turned up, so I assumed that for some reason the words in vaults just died out somehow. She doesn’t have anything on her wrist, from what she told me.”

Despite what he’d just told himself, Butch felt his heart sink a little. “She doesn’t? How is that possible?”

“Well, some people never get words. It usually means that their soulmate died before they met, or that they were never destined to meet. Some people believe they don’t have soulmates at all. Regardless, it’s a very lonely experience.”

“So she’ll never have a soulmate?” Butch repeated quietly. No wonder she hadn’t wanted to show Amata her wrist. 

“Sadly, it seems not. She could be someone else’s soulmate, but it would likely be unrequited.” Simms shook his head. “It’s a cruel fate, knowing there’s no one out there for you. You should be grateful for your mark.”

“How do soulmates work, exactly? How can they be unrequited?” 

“Well, the concept of soulmates is that there are people out there perfectly fit for you, and that you’re destined to be together in some way. They’re considered the strongest bond you can have with someone. In this case, they’re romantic bonds, and some people have theorised that people have more than one life, in which case you’re destined to meet your soulmate in every lifetime. ‘Course, other people believe we only have one life, and that you’re born to meet your soulmate. There’s been cases of people not feeling romantically towards anyone, and never getting a word, which is how it was worked out that the bonds were romantic to begin with. Problem is, it isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. Sometimes, you can have a soulmate, but it turns out that that person isn’t your soulmate in return, or that their soulmate is another person. Those are unrequited soulmates,” Simms explained. “The words also don’t make it as easy as it seems. If your nickname was a common one, multiple people could call you by that nickname, and you’d never really know for sure who your soulmate was. Some people ignore their soulmarks altogether, opting to be with people they know aren’t their soulmate. It’s not uncommon out here for people to know their soulmate is dead and settle down with someone else, but some folks look down upon it, since in their eyes it’s not a ‘proper’ connection. It was probably easier before the war. Nowadays, it’s difficult, with lots more people never getting soulmarks since a lot of people die due to raiders or wasteland creatures. Honestly, my theory _had_ been that vault dwellers don’t have soulmarks due to never leaving their vault and therefore never meeting their soulmate, since what are the chances your soulmate is in the vault with you? But you’ve come along and blown that theory out of the water. Unless, of course, it was destined that you’d leave your vault…”

He trailed off, seeing Butch looking expectantly at him. “Sorry, kid. Got a bit caught up in that explanation there. My point is, having a soulmark doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll meet your soulmate, but it increases the chance of you knowing when you do. Katherine, on the other hand, seems to not have a soulmate, but she could _be_ someone’s soulmate. Are you following?”

“I think so,” Butch said. It was sad to think about Katherine having no one out there for her, even if she was perfect for someone. 

It did, however, mean that Amata hadn’t been Katherine’s soulmate. It gave him a weird sense of relief, although he wasn’t sure why. 

“Best of luck to you, then. Here’s hoping you find your soulmate.” Simms tipped his hat and turned to leave.

“Wait!” He looked back at him, and Butch continued, “Do you know where I could find Katherine?”

“Haven’t seen her in a few days, come to think about it.” Simms’ smile turned into a frown. “Why do you want to know?”

“She’s my friend. I left the vault to try and catch up with her after she came back to help us.” He bit his lip. “I… I don’t want her to be alone.”

Simms squinted at him for a moment. “I guess you _do_ have matching jackets. She lives just over there.” 

He pointed at the houses to the left of where Butch had entered the town. 

“Thank you, sir,” Butch said. Simms just tipped his hat again before striding off. 

Butch started walking towards the houses nearby, his heart beginning to thud in his chest. What if she wasn’t there? If the sheriff hadn’t seen her in a few days, she might not have come back to this town at all, house or not. And if she was there, she might not even want to see him. She could’ve been putting on an act while she was in the vault. It _was_ in character for her to be unnecessarily nice to people. Maybe she’d just pitied him and was too nice to tell him to go away, thinking she wouldn’t have to see him again afterwards. 

His stomach tied itself into a knot. He stopped just short of the first house, stood outside the door. There was nothing about the outside that particularly stood out to him as Katherine’s house: it seemed just like all the other houses nearby, rusty and dull. He wasn’t even sure if it was Katherine’s house. Maybe he’d knock and a complete stranger would answer. Maybe he’d knock and Dr. Albert would answer, and _that_ would be awkward - the doctor had never exactly liked him. No surprise there, given how he’d always treated his only child. 

He reached out to knock on the door and faltered, trying to think of what to do if it turned out to be a stranger. He’d never been good in embarrassing situations, and the last thing he wanted to do was make a scene in this new town. 

The door opened before he could make another move, revealing Katherine behind it. The two of them froze as they saw each other, seemingly equally surprised. Butch felt his heart rate speed up, desperately trying to think of something to say, when she broke into a smile.

“Butch!” Before he could react, she’d pulled him into a hug. Taken aback, he dropped his suitcase and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder. His insides seemed to flutter - a result of his stomach untying its knot, he was sure. 

They stood in an embrace for a few seconds until Katherine coughed awkwardly and let him go, her cheeks flushing a light shade of red. 

_It’s kind of…_ He found himself trying to think of the right word to describe her. _Sweet. Cute isn’t the right word. I don’t think she’s cute. I think it’s sweet that she’d hug me._

“It’s, um, good to see you again.” She busied herself with picking up his suitcase and holding it out to him. He accepted it quietly. “I… wasn’t expecting to.”

“I didn’t want to stay in the vault.” There was an unspoken _without you_ in his words, but if she picked up on it, she didn’t make it obvious. He decided not to mention his soulmark. He didn’t want to upset her by showing that he had a soulmate when she didn’t, and besides, he could easily keep it hidden under his pipboy. If she didn’t bring it up, there for no reason for him to.

“I was just about to go out, but you’re more than welcome to stay in my house.” She pushed her fringe back from her face. “I’m sure there’s a lot for you to take in.”

“Could I come with you?” The words tumbled from his mouth before he could stop them, and he braced himself for the rejection. _If only I’d think before opening my mouth! Of course she doesn’t want me going with her, especially if she's running errands. You fucking idiot._

“Sure, I’d like the company,” she said, surprising him. “Here, come inside first. No point carrying a suitcase around.” 

She stood aside to let him in and he slowly walked past her into the house. Despite it being such a small shack, it had a comfortable feeling to it, and a radio played slow songs from a bookshelf of sorts. There was a heart shaped bed pushed against the opposing wall, and a couple of lockers and a small sofa to the side of it. He could see that there was a small stack of what appeared to be comics next to the radio, and another small collection of books on a shelf below them. As Katherine closed the door behind them, he spotted a wardrobe which had previously been hidden by the door.

“I don’t want to hold you up from anything,” he started, but Katherine waved him off. 

“No, you’re fine.I didn’t want to head back to my dad just yet, so I was just going to do some tasks for Moira.” 

“He knew you were going back to the vault? And he let you?” Butch had always remembered Dr. Albert as a protective father, so it was hard to picture him letting Katherine go alone to a place that had almost killed her when she was last there.

“It wasn’t up to him. Besides, he left me there once, didn’t he?” Her tone was light, but he got the feeling that there was something else to it. Choosing not to respond, he instead placed his suitcase down on the floor. 

“You can have my room,” Katherine offered, gesturing up the stairs. “I’ve got this spare bed down here anyway. I imagine you’d like your privacy.”

“I don’t mind taking this bed-” he started, but she cut him off. 

“I’m usually so tired when I get back here that I just collapse onto this bed anyway. Come on, I’ll show you to the upstairs bedroom. You might as well unpack in there, most of my stuff is down here.” She started heading up the stairs. Butch shrugged, more for himself than for her, and picked his suitcase back up, following her to the room upstairs. 

The bedroom was smaller than the main room downstairs, with only a single bed, a desk, and a chair in the room. 

“It’s a bit of a squeeze with the two of us in the room, so I’ll wait downstairs while you unpack,” she said, and left him in the room. He set the suitcase down on the desk and took the opportunity to have a look around. 

The bed was well-made, with a couple of blankets covering it. Truthfully, he was thankful she’d left him to unpack by himself - he didn’t want her to see how little possessions he actually owned. He was hoping that with being out of the vault he could make something of himself and actually have some money to his name. Not that he knew what currency to use. He doubted that pre-war money was still in effect. 

He brought the holotapes out of the suitcase and set them down on the desk. He’d seen them all more times than he could count, but they provided him with an odd sense of comfort. Flicking through the titles, he wondered if Katherine would enjoy watching any of them. Would it be weird to invite her to watch one with him? There were a couple of romances in there, but would take it the wrong way? Was he taking it the wrong way thinking about it? Just in case, he opened one of the desk drawers and carefully placed the pile into it. Hidden, just to be sure. 

He eyed up the bed again. Had she ever slept in it? She said that _usually_ she’s so tired that she uses the bed downstairs, so that would surely suggest that she _had_ slept in the bed. 

_Why am I feeling so weird about this? Is it just because we used to hate each other? Why does it feel so strange to sleep in a bed that she’s slept in, especially when she’s not even sleeping in it?_

“Everything okay?” Katherine called from down below.

“Yeah!” he shouted back. His voice came out a few pitches higher than he’d intended. He cleared his throat. “I mean, yeah,” he added, more gruffly this time. He grabbed the few provisions he had and then closed the suitcase, tucking it underneath the bed. 

He quickly moved to join her downstairs again. “I, uh, I brought some food and stuff from the vault. Just in case. For you as well.”

“Oh, thanks Butch. Anything that isn’t going to expire soon can go into the kitchen. We can take the rest with us.” 

She approached him and he awkwardly handed her everything. His eyes trailed along her pipboy, thinking of her bare wrist underneath, and his heart sank again. _I can’t believe someone like her doesn’t have a soulmate. Maybe it’s just that nobody’s good enough._

He vaguely heard her ask something as she walked into the kitchen. 

“Huh?” He blinked a couple of times, tuning back in.

“I said, do you need a weapon? You only have your switchblade, right?”

“Uh, I guess? You’d know better than I do.” He perched on the edge of the sofa. 

“You don’t want to be up against a super mutant with a knife, trust me.” She let out a light laugh. “Don’t worry. I have a couple of spare weapons for you. We can get you kitted out with some armor too, but we’ll need some more caps.” 

“Caps?”

“Oh, sorry. That’s the currency used out here. They’re not too hard to come by, and if we do some odd jobs it should be relatively easy to make money. You’ll adjust, you’ll see.”

She was speaking as though she’d lived in the wasteland her entire life instead of a few weeks, Butch noted. It was pretty impressive how fast she’d adapted to life outside the vault, especially considering how shy she’d seemed to have been previously. Well, aside from towards him and Amata, albeit both for different reasons. 

“I’m happy to follow your lead,” he said honestly. 

“There’s something I never thought I’d hear.” She joined him back in the living room, handing him a laser pistol. “Butch DeLoria, letting other people lead him.”

“Did you just bring me a gun from the kitchen?” He shot her an odd look, examining the pistol. It was in oddly good condition. 

“There’s a cupboard back here where I’ve been dumping most of my shit until I have enough caps to buy a few footlockers,” she explained. “It’s kind of comforting to know that there’s guns back here. Simms said they haven’t had issues with raiders for a while, but you can’t be too careful.”

He aimed the gun at her wall, mimicking shooting invisible enemies.

“Please don’t blast a hole in my wall,” she teased, and he gave her a grin.

“No promises.”

“You break it, you’re fixing it.” She slotted a pistol into a holster that had appeared around her waist. “If you’re ready to go, we can leave now. I can fill you in on basic survival knowledge as we go along. Moira wants me to help her with a wasteland survival guide anyway, so it makes sense for you to tag along.” 

“Yeah, I’m ready.” He stood up. Katherine looked him up and down, seeming thoughtful.

“We might as well head to her shop first. It might benefit you to get a holster, for one. For two, you might as well meet Moira before we start doing the rest of her tasks, especially considering half the shit she comes up with for me to do. Come to think of it, she’ll end up paying you, too, so better to meet her first.”

“She’ll be okay with paying me too?” 

“The more guinea pigs she has, the happier she is, so I don’t see why not. And you-” she prodded his chest. “-owe me a drink, mister.”

“Hey, second I get my first paycheck, drinks are on me. Anything for my best girl.” He nudged her gently, grinning. It was funny how easy it was to joke with her now that they were out of the vault. It was as though all their tension had evaporated. 

“Yeah, yeah. Keep it up, loverboy.” 

She’d already walked over to the door, so she didn’t see the stunned look on his face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay with this chapter! I moved out of my old house and didn't have wifi for a week, and then I didn't want to rush one of the most important chapters ;) I hope you're all enjoying! What do you think of the reveal of Butch's soulmark?  
> As always, kudos & comments are greatly appreciated!


	10. Chapter 10

As predicted, Moira was delighted to meet a second vault dweller. Katherine tried her best to keep her amusement to herself as she watched Moira prod Butch, gushing about possible opportunities for the two of them. Butch, to his credit, was enduring it silently - although when Moira turned her back his eyes signaled a cry for help. She pretended to be interested in her pipboy, and bit her lip to hide a grin.

“Moira, I need to get my friend here some equipment before we head out to do the rest of the tasks. Is there anything you recommend?” Katherine turned back to Moira as she went bustling back behind the counter.

“Hmm? Oh, of course! How many caps does he have?” She vanished from sight, seemingly diving behind the counter. 

Butch looked uncomfortable and opened his mouth to speak, but Katherine waved him off. “Moira, he’s fresh out the vault. I already did all the odd jobs around here and Moriarty’s hardly going to offer anything. I’ve got caps for him here.” As she spoke, she dug around in her bag and produced a handful. 

“Hmm.” Moira popped up again and squinted at the caps in her hand. “Well, it’ll be expensive to kit you out - especially if you want some upgrades yourself - but I suppose we can always take it out of your pay for the next tasks! You  _ are _ heading into a nest of mirelurks, after all!”

“What are mirelurks?” Butch asked. 

“They lurk in mires, silly!”

“Right. Of course.” Butch shot a pleading look at Katherine. 

“I’ll explain on the way,” she mouthed at him. Focusing her attention back on Moira, she said aloud, “You wanted to study injuries, right? Should I let them rough me up a bit?”

“Oh, that would be perfect!” Moira clapped her hands. “You know, if you can damage one of your limbs, that would be fantastic. I’ll throw in some extra pay and stimpacks for you!”

“I’ll do my best.” Katherine carefully dumped her caps on the counter. “For now some upgrades would be perfect.”

Fifteen minutes later, Butch and Katherine were on their way, equipped with better gear. Butch kept his leather jacket, but he was now wearing protective gear underneath it, and carrying a laser rifle. Katherine knew his switchblade was still in his pocket too. As for herself, she’d had Moira fix up her gun, and bought herself some armor plating to wear over her clothes. She’d kept her jacket on too, same as Butch. 

He seemed unusually subdued as they walked, carrying the rifle close to his chest, as though he was unsure how to handle it. 

“You okay?” she asked, and he jolted, relaxing almost instantly afterwards. 

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine.”

“Meeting Moira is a lot, I get it.” She patted his shoulder understandingly. 

“Uh, yeah…” Butch shook his head slightly. “Is she always so…” 

Seeing him struggle for the words, she cut him off. “Yeah, a little bit. She’s a bit of a strange one, but she’s nice enough. Always cheery, even when it’s not quite appropriate.” 

“Huh.” He went quiet again. Not wanting them to fall back into silence, she made another attempt at conversation.

“We’re heading to a mirelurk nest to plant an observer unit for Moira. It’s going to be dangerous, so if you’d rather wait outside the building I understand.”

“Baby, I don’t even know what a mirelurk is.” He relaxed his gun, but kept it close to chest level. “If it’s dangerous, I’m with you.”

“They’re mutated crustaceans, protected by their shells. Their main weak spot is their heads, your shots will barely do anything to the shell on their back. You want to keep your distance, because they have huge claws, and you especially don’t want to get cornered by a group of them.” She felt her cheeks tint red at his casual use of the term ‘baby’. She wasn’t even sure where she stood with the whole soulmate ordeal anymore. She’d gotten her hopes up again when she’d returned to the vault, after not daring to indulge in the idea of it since she’d initially found out, assuming she’d never see him again. They’d gotten on well once they’d gotten over the initial awkwardness, and she’d allowed herself to lean into his actions more than she normally would’ve done. She’d be lying to herself if she didn’t admit she’d been excited at the prospect of sharing a drink and spending time with him. Then, of course, Amata had told her she had to leave, and her hopes were shattered - there was no way she’d encounter him again if she left the vault without him, but she could never ask him to come with her. It was far too big an ask. Instead she’d granted herself one last moment with him, a hug she’d normally never think of giving. It had taken everything within her not to start crying in his arms. She’d tasted bitter disappointment as she left the vault for the second time, knowing for certain that she wouldn’t be back again, that she’d gotten her hopes up for nothing and all she was left with were hurt feelings. And then, having barely even begun to process her feelings, deciding to go sit at Moriarty’s bar and feel sorry for herself, he’d shown up on her doorstep. He’d come out after  _ her. _ And now they were travelling together! It was like the universe was  _ trying  _ to give her mixed signals.

Worst of all, she found herself  _ wanting _ to spend time with him. She just didn’t learn - she was letting herself get hopeful again, she could tell, and it was only a matter of time before something else came along and squashed that hope too. 

“-nest full of them?” Butch said. She realised she’d been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn’t heard the first part of his sentence. 

_ Baby _ .

“Sorry, got caught up thinking about mirelurks.” She laughed awkwardly. “What were you saying?”

“I said, how are we meant to keep our distance in a nest full of them?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “You okay? You’re looking a little… nervous?”

“I haven’t fought many mirelurks before,” she replied, hoping it sounded convincing. “My current plan is just for me to distract them while you place the unit, if you’re confident joining me inside.”

“But that’ll put you in danger!” 

Was he concerned about her, or was she just reading too much into his words?

“It’s our best bet. Moira doesn’t want any of them harmed in order to get the best results, and it’ll be easier for both of us if you focus on planting it and I focus on distracting them. That way, you can get out while I hold them off, and then I can leg it out behind you.”

He was frowning. “I don’t like it.”

_ I don’t want you to get hurt. I’d never forgive myself if I got you killed. I don’t want to put you in danger.  _ Instead, she said, “Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

“Well… You’re the boss.” He still didn’t look happy about it. Cautiously she reached out, placing her hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner, and was pleasantly surprised to see that he didn’t shake her off.

* * *

It took them about an hour and a half to reach the Anchorage Memorial, according to her pipboy. She’d begun to wonder whether it had been a good idea to bring Butch along after all. He’d remained quiet for most of the journey, although he had seemed to pay close to attention to anything she’d said. And mirelurks were a pretty tough enemy to face for someone fresh out of a vault - she knew that from her own firsthand experience. 

“Is this the place?” Butch asked, pointing at the memorial ahead of them and pulling her from her thoughts. He seemed to be making a habit of interrupting her. 

Maybe she was just easily distracted by him.

“Yeah, this is the place.” Katherine dug into her bag and handed him the observer unit. “All you need to focus on is putting this in their nest. I’ll handle the rest.”

Butch took it uncertainly. “Are you  _ sure _ you’ll be okay?”

“Hey, if they kill me, you get all the pay,” she joked. Spotting his alarmed expression she continued, “I’m joking, Butch. We’ll be fine. The faster you place that, the faster we can be on our way.”

“So no pressure,” he teased. She rolled her eyes and walked closer, looking for an entrance. There was a door directly ahead of them, but at a guess it would be their longest route. Peeking around a corner, she could see some mirelurks hovering towards the back of the memorial, near another door. She was willing to bet that the door would be the closest to their nest as it seemed lower down than where they were, but the mirelurks around it made it a riskier choice. 

“We’ll have to use this entrance,” she said eventually. “But be careful. They won’t be happy to be disturbed.” 

“What’s our plan?”

“I’m going to run ahead and try and get them to follow me away from their nest. You sneak after me, keeping out of sight until I shout that it’s safe for you. Shout back when you’ve placed it, and then leg it back out the way we came. I’ll follow after you, but they’ll likely follow me, so be prepared to run  _ fast _ .” She tucked her gun away. “No matter what, don’t shoot them. Just focus on getting in and out.”

“Got it.” He had a determined look on his face. It was kind of… sweet, seeing him look almost serious. She wasn’t used to it. 

As they approached the door, she sunk into a creeping position, motioning for Butch to copy her. The door creaked loudly as she opened it, but there didn’t seem to be anything behind it. 

“Stay low,” she murmured, and continued edging down the corridor. The layout wasn’t the best - it appeared to have several levels, which wasn’t ideal for a quick escape. Luckily for them the top level was clear. Down below, she could just about make out several of the creatures clustered together. She motioned for Butch to stay put and took a deep breath before charging down the stairs. 

The mirelurks were on her instantly, scuttling after her as she ran through their midst. The room was small, so she was able to spot the eggs with ease, but manoeuvring was difficult. There were far more than she’d originally thought. 

She ran for the nearest door, hoping to guide them outside. To her dismay, she found that the door she crashed through led into a cupboard of sorts instead. Five mirelurks already blocked the entrance she’d come through. Thinking quickly, she dived at a cabinet resting against the furthest wall, tipping it forward so she could use it as cover.

“Butch, now!” she shouted as the cabinet crashed down. She hoped he’d heard her. The cabinet proved to be not as useful as she’d hoped, and she barely missed one of the claws swiping at her. The room quickly filled with more mirelurks, all crowding around the cabinet, although at the least their attempts to get through it had been unsuccessful so far. 

“Done!” Butch’s distant shout came a moment later, barely audible over the sounds of the mirelurks. The doorway was still completely blocked by them. There was no other way about it - she’d have to go through them. 

She stood up, eyeing the best possible way to go about it. If she was lucky, she’d be able to get away with a few scrapes. If she was unlucky, well… best not to think about it. 

Bracing herself, she clambered over the cabinet, pushing past the huge sea of mirelurk before her. They seemed to move with her, and she narrowly avoided their claws. She was almost at the doorway when she felt a pincer clamp onto her leg. 

She hissed with pain and stumbled, trying to shake it off to no avail - its grip was too powerful. They were upon her now that she was on the ground, swiping at her, and she gritted her teeth as another claw sliced her, and another. She was crawling backwards desperately now, the full extent of her situation dawning upon her. She couldn’t even shoot the damn things. She was almost certainly about to be their next meal. 

Out of nowhere she felt herself dragged upwards, and she yelped, only to register an arm wrapping around her.

“Get up!” Butch urged her, kicking the claw until it lost its grip on her. She tried to stand, Butch stopping her from falling backwards, and cried out as she put weight down onto her leg, feeling pain shoot up it. Almost immediately another claw swiped at them as the mirelurks began to gather again.

“I can’t,” she gasped, clutching Butch. “I can’t stand. My leg.”

Butch seemed to dither for a moment, twisting just out of reach of another claw. 

“Leave me!” She couldn’t be the reason he got stuck there too. “Get back to Moira.”

“I’m not leaving you.” He half-dragged her backwards, away from them. They were upon them again in seconds.

“Butch, they’ll-”

“I’m not fucking leaving you to die!” he shouted, and she saw that his panicked expression shifted. Before she could argue further, he bent slightly and scooped her up into his arms, starting to run back up the stairs they’d gone down. Stunned, she clung to him, wrapping her arms around his neck so as to not fall out of his grasp. She could hear the scuttling right behind them. 

Butch was panting heavily as the door to the main room came into sight. 

“Close the door behind you!” she wheezed as he ran through it. He paused again, seemingly trying to set her down gently, and she threw herself out of his arms, grunting in pain. Butch, thankfully, took the initiative to shove the door closed, leaning his back against it. For a moment, the door seemed to shake, the sounds of claws scratching against it, and then it was quiet. 

She lay flat on her back, gasping for breath. She could see Butch slowly sink to the floor, equally winded. 

All the pain seemed to catch up to her at once. She screwed up her face, trying to steady her breathing, and managed to raise her arm to check her pipboy. Her left leg was fractured; the vault boy figure displayed a broken bone icon next to its leg, as if mocking her. She let her arm drop back down besides her and closed her eyes, clenching her teeth. 

“Kath? Are you alright?” Butch’s voice drifted next to her and she reluctantly opened her eyes again. He was at her side now, leaning over her, a concerned expression on his face. 

“Just about,” she murmured, letting her eyes flutter closed again. He’d looked prettier than ever in the dull light.  _ His face is so close, if I leant up, I could kiss him right now.  _

“Kath?” Butch said again, a tone of urgency in his voice. She opened her eyes once more to see his worried expression. Great. Now she was delirious too, wanting to kiss Butch DeLoria. Probably the blood loss, come to think of it.

“So you do care.” She gave him a faint smile.  _ God, he has no right to look this pretty, not now.  _

“Of course I care!” he replied indignantly. Then, a moment later, “Oh my god, you’re bleeding!”

“M’leg’s fractured,” she added unhelpfully, gazing at his face. 

“Jesus Christ, Kath.” He shot up and disappeared from her line of sight, even when she tried to twist her head to follow him. There was the sound of something tearing, and then he was back, holding what appeared to be rags. 

“Talk me through this?” He placed a hand on top of hers for a moment. 

“Moira can fix it,” she argued half-heartedly, although she knew it was unlikely she’d remain conscious long enough to even get back to Moira at their current rate. 

“Please. I’ve- I’ve never been good with this kind of stuff.” He looked helpless as she looked back at him. She struggled to pull herself into a position where she was half-sitting, biting down on her lip to try and stop herself hissing with pain. 

“You need to clean the wound first.” She leant against a counter of some sort for support. “Just clean it and wrap it. Moira will be happy to see the injuries. I can fix it afterwards.”

“Clean it with what?” Butch looked around as if expecting something to materialise out of the air. 

“I’ve got some purified water in my bag.” She clenched her teeth once more. The throbbing in her legs wasn’t going away anytime soon. 

Butch rifled through her bag until he found the water, tipping some onto the rag to dampen it. She took a deep breath to ready herself but still gasped when she felt him touch the open wound. 

“Sorry, sorry,” Butch said. His hands were shaking. She nodded and squeezed her eyes shut, balling her hands into fists. She could feel him cleaning each wound. She wished she knew what he was thinking. 

“I think you’re done,” he said doubtfully after a few moments, and she opened her eyes to see the rags wrapped around the wounds. 

“Thank you.” She let out a deep sigh. “Now we just have to get back.”

“You can’t walk,” he pointed out. 

“Mmn.” She stared down at her legs. He’d done a surprisingly decent job for a first attempt. It would be enough to stop her bleeding out on the journey. 

“I’ll carry you,” he said, surprising her. 

“I can’t ask you to do that,” she started, and he shook his head.

“I’m not asking you. I’m telling you. It’ll be faster for both of us, and you shouldn’t put strain on yourself.” He stood up and bent to gather her into his arms before she could complain further. She found herself relaxing into his hold. He was shockingly strong. 

“You’re not hurt?” she asked him, already weaving her arms back around him.

“No, I’m fine,” he assured her. She could smell his cologne better than ever. 

“Alright, loverboy,” she said in a teasing tone, laying her head against his chest. “Tell me if I get too heavy for you.”

“What, you think I’m not strong enough to carry you around?” He started walking towards the exit, feigning hurt. “I’m pure muscle, baby. I can carry anything.”

“Remind me to make you the pack mule, then,” she murmured, subtly breathing his scent in. She could almost kid herself that they were flirting with each other, even though she knew that would never be the case. 

Still, it was nice to pretend, and as they started their journey back to Megaton, it wasn’t Moira’s book that was on her mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the chapter delay! I promise I'm not dead - it turns out three of my four modules are this term, so I've been drowning in uni work :') I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll try to update before three months from now lmao  
> As always, kudos and comments are really appreciated - now more than ever as they show me that people are still interested in this fic which motivates me to work on it! <3


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